Racing and its purity

Racing is the purest form of running.

A runner never starts racing to win money, accolades, admiration or external emotional support.

A runner starts racing for purely selfish reasons; a desire to be faster; a desire to be better. 

Racing see-saws on a desire to prove to oneself that there are no limits. Anything is possible and that time only moves forward.

This selfishness and self-centeredness of racing is in fact its purity. All racers don’t win and become famous, yet they end up racing even as losers (even constant losers race).

Pacing, charitable runs, coaching, organising races, writing about running, selling running etc., all have one thing in common- vested interests.

A pacer in a race is simply seeking social admiration and accolades.

A coach who trains you for running is there to merely engage in business through the sport.

A race organiser is merely a middleman between the sport and the participant.

Charitable runners are not connected to the running. It is just a means to an end (the charitable cause) which is unrelated to the sport or the charitable runner is seeking admiration.

Writing about running is not the act of running and therefore the dissociation from racing is omnipresent.

A person who is selling running (or running products) to you is simply a salesman of a product with remote or negligible connections to the product/sport.

A racer on the other hand is a pure imbecile. He just yearns to improve and compete, even if that means that there is an absence of money, social admiration and accolades. His fervour and his desire are to simply become a better version of himself and defeat the others. Be more, try more, be even more, keep trying for more.

The selfishness is a gateway to the purity. The agenda is crystal clear; constant improvement. The purpose is clear; it is for myself.