Reminder of “Momento Mori”

Hearing or reading “remember that you must die,” probably sounds morbid and fear-mongering, but “Momento Mori,” which has roots in Ancient Rome and with the Stoics, serves to remind us that none of us are immortal and we do not know for sure when our time will come to an end.

This makes many of us uncomfortable, with good reason, but also offers the opportunity to ensure we are making use of our time while here on Earth. We are fortunate that we do not have to worry about being eaten by a predator on any given day, as some of our ancestors had to do, but that does not mean we are invincible in young age.

Reflecting on our impermanence can help guide our actions and the direction we take in life.

Knowing we won’t be around forever does not mean we partake in risky behavior every day, but there’s a middle ground we can find. One where we stay disciplined, but also take calculated risks at times or do something different than normal because we recognize our bodies do not survive forever.

Marcus Aurelius, one of the most well-known Stoics, writes in Meditations, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

While I do not want to think about mortality all the time, taking time to contemplate this fact on occasion can motivate me to do what matters most.

Winning Your First Overall Race, For Real

I won one of the strangest races I have ever heard of or run in last April when I signed up and ran in a race benefitting a dog shelter for Artic breeds, called Iditarun (play on words). I just wanted to find a 5k to compete in and ended up going for one close to my house. Word to the wise, do your research on a race before signing up and paying. I did not know that people would be running with their dogs, most of which were huge siberian husky’s. I also thought the race was all on paved surfaces, but it was actually on a trail with rocks, roots and hills. The course was short of 5k, but I didn’t really mind in the end as I was ready to finish. For almost three quarters of the race I had some guy running right behind me with his huge dog on a leash. It’s a bit odd when you can hear a dog panting behind you and to make it more interesting, this guy was speaking to the dog in French. Anyways, I did end up winning $75 even though there were maybe 30 people in the race and I ran fairly slowly, but that was really cool. 

The point of my story above was that I did not consider that race a valid victory. However, yesterday I won a road race that I consider much more legit. I’m not going to pretend that the race was packed with amazing runners, but the end of the race came down to a kick between me and two other guys. I ran 18:43, but my gps had me at 3.19 instead of the usual 5k, which is 3.10686 (according to google conversions). This means I was running closer to 5:50 pace and my actual 5k time going off the gps was 18:13. Thinking relatively, this is slow for some, and fast for others.

Considering what I have run since graduating from college where I ran cross country and track, this was fast for me. Not quite at my college ability, but moving in the right direction. Overall, I was really happy with how this went! I planned to not look at my watch the whole race and I found this tactic really helped. I end up playing too many mind games when I see numbers and I try to do calculations in my head. Running based on effort and trying to compete with others works best for me. I went out with this one guy and we ended up running most of the race together. After passing a couple of ladies who went out way too fast it was just me and him. We did not speak with each other during the race but there was an unspoken communication that we were working together. Without him, I definitely would have run slower.

While we thought it was just us up at the front, with maybe half a mile to go some guy comes up and joins us. He then makes a move to pass us and I think in that moment that I will have to settle for a battle for second place. However, we round the corner to the finish and the straightaway leading to the finish line is long. Like Lehigh course long. Usually final straightways are fairly short, but this was definitely over a quarter of a mile. I still think I am only going to finish in second after I surged away from the guy I was with the whole race, but as we keep going I notice I am gaining some ground on 1st place.

Finally, with maybe 100m to go I see Veronica cheering and she yells ‘YOU CAN GET HIM GOOOOO!!!” 

Too often after races I realize I could have pushed myself a little more. I did not want to regret anything this time, so I dug deep and thought I would give myself a chance. When I passed him he did not respond to my move. Coming in to cheering after a kick finish in first was a really cool experience. 

In the end, I am really pleased that I can say I won a road 5k race. However, I am more concerned with trying to run my best and pushing myself to see what I can do. The time and the effort were the best I have put forward in a long time. I feel that I did not slow down much during the race, and my splits show that. Afterwards when looking at my gps, I saw my mile splits of 5:56, 6:01, and 5:44. The last .19 was run in around 1 minute. To have my fastest mile be my last one in the race is huge for me. I do not often negative split, so this is a great sign moving forward. 

I am really trying to enjoy the process with running. I think there are many ways to get fit quickly and see short-term gains, but I am focused on the long-term game right now. I am grateful for how things are going and I am trying to be consistent. I am thankful to be running between 30-40 miles a week over the past few months and I hope to keep this up. I was listening to a podcast recently, can’t remember exactly which one, but the conversation mentioned focusing on the process, not just the result. The results will come with time.