Happiness

This week I took a day off training because I felt tired, and the next morning I was very upset to myself after seeing somebody running on the sidewalk. In a stessful week at work, the question came to my mind: What makes us happy?

With so many people not able to swim, bike or run, for health problems, money or time constraints or psych blockage, should we be happy on being able to finish a race, or be ready at the start?

Always moved by adrenaline and endorphines, we push ourselves week after week, collecting miles and hours in training logs, worn off shoes and race bibs. Many times we loose the focus, because of tiredness, hunger or pain. My reaction to work stress invariably throws me to find new challenges, the crazier the better. Is happiness the absence of injuries, or a busy race schedule?

Permanently planning for the next race, days, months and years go by with stubborn preparation. We chase results, racing our peers. Can we train to be happy? If results matter, is an elite athlete happier than an age-grouper?

Science and Medicine more and more bring evidence that physical activity and wellness are intrinsically related and dependent on each other.

To be an athlete is not a profession, a badge, or a status; it is a state and a way of life. It takes dedication, sweat and pain, but so it is life and all pleasures.

Are we happy because we're athletes, or we are athletes because we're happy?

Hero of the week: Haile Gebrselassie won the Dubai Marathon yesterday in 2:05:29. Because of the rain, he could not break his own current world record of 2:03:59. “I’m really pleased with this performance,” he said at the press conference, “this is my best time in this sort of weather. (...) This is better than Dubai last year (2:04:53) for me, so I’m happy.”

Quote of the week: "If you want to be happy, be." Leo Tolstoy