Tag: Marathon

Berlin marathon and The wall

The Berlin Marathon, once a pleasant but unremarkable jaunt through the Grunewald forest, was redirected through the streets of West Berlin in 1981. In doing so, it became part of the city for a day. After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the race was rerouted again so that it passed through the old East and West Berlin. In that first true city-wide race, on 30 September 1990, three days before Germany was officially reunified, many runners wept as they passed underneath the Brandenburg Gate.

“Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon” by Ed Caesar, April 09, 2017 at 07:52 PM

Continue reading Berlin marathon and The wall

Focus. Flow. La Volupté

In these final moments of stillness, however, Mutai banished impure thoughts and the crowding, conflicted voices. He attempted to focus. 

Psychologists talk about a Zen-like state of instinctual action in which the greatest sporting performances are attained. They call it Flow. 

The French cyclist Jean Bobet described a similar but distinct experience called La Volupté, which ‘is delicate, intimate and ephemeral. It arrives, it takes hold of you, sweeps you up and then leaves you again. It is for you alone. It is a combination of speed and ease, force and grace. It is pure happiness.’

“Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon” by Ed Caesar, April 06, 2017 at 12:59 AM