Journey To The Unknown
Many people try to understand why a handful of runners would want to run day after day for almost two months around about one half mile concrete surface during the summer months in New York City. Most of these runners have done it more than once, so there is even more reason to wonder why they would want to do it again after experiencing the tremendous challenges and difficulties involved in such a very long and arduous journey.
Each of the runners has their own answers to such a perplexing question and we have heard some of the reasons here on this site especially. Having done it once myself and helping in most of the other races as well, I can talk about the experience for hours. But the words may still not make any sense to those who have not experienced the race in some way or another, either as a runner, a helper or a regular spectator.
Instead of offering any kind of explanation that would probably fall short of satisfying the mind’s curiosity or cynical queries, I wish to offer a poem about the 3100 mile race which I wrote about eight years ago. It was a few years before I even attempted to run the race so it was not from a runner’s perspective at the time. I have offered it every year to those who feel that perhaps there is a reason beyond the logic and rationality of the mind that motivates and inspires these ‘fearless warriors’ to face a peaceful battle within themselves to reach a lofty goal.
Without further introduction here is the poem which I hope you can enjoy as a peek into the mystery of the incredible 3100 mile odyssey on foot.
Journey to the Unknown
A 3,100 mile orbit of concrete, automobiles and local humanity,
Lightly spiced with a hint of nature
And fed by the Grace of God,
Supported with the efforts of friends
Who sympathize with the pain,
The Joys
And the challenges
Facing at every moment
These handful of Hero-Warriors.
Running, walking, struggling
To the beat of their own
Undying aspirations
In this perpetually moving
Epic adventure,
These Ultimate Survivors
Of obstacles unimaginable
Are proving to humanity
With their unparalleled perseverance,
Adamantine wills
And unswerving
Faith,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 That the impossible can be done,
And the Universal Energy
Can be unleashed,
To raise our standards
And lift our minds
Beyond the limits of our broken bodies
And faithless thoughts,
To reveal the Beauty and the Power
Of life’s long and arduous
Journey to the Unknown.
Arpan DeAngelo