Have I reached the end

Very often I have written that I´ve been a runner all the way from the year 1973. So many youngters got excited about running because of the success of the Flying Finns. Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, Tapio Kantanen, Pekka Päivärinta and Pekka Vasala showed us all how to train and how to reach success at the Olympic games.

From that year on running has been inside my soul and it will stay there for the rest of my life. Like two days ago I ran 36 kilometres without even thinking about the distance. Running is one of those three things I need mentally to make my life worth living.

At this moment I still like to train runners. Expecially this statement is true when it comes to train those runners with a good motivation. They seem to enjoy their training without the problematic thinking which says that I must train instead of I like to run. I like to run is the basic philosophy behind all the training.

At the moment my trouble lies elsewhere: I´m not anymore interested enough about the track & field or other events. I don´t the reason behind of my frustration. It has sometihng to do to the notion that more or less the whole idea about competiton does not interest me anymore that much.

There are also some other matters that I have found to be behind of my lack of interest. First of all, I´m surprised that so many track & field -athletics are sort of pushed away from the possible coaching position without never asked their ideas about how to train. Part of the modern day jargon is to talk about the use of the quiet wisdom: some of the people with proper historical knowledge should be listened by younger workers in order to reach their potential all the way in their field of work.

Another aspect is the lack of co-operation among the coaches and runners. 2-3 times I have tried to start ”training movement” in my homearea, but I have failed. There is one group with good co-operation and by this I mean the runners and coaches of SFI (Svenska Finlands Idrottsförbund).

Third and perhaps the most important reason is that modern day Finnish runners and coaches are not listening the words af wisdom or selfcriticism. I don´t have all the answers when it come to training or competing. But every summer I´m wondering that how hard it is to run under 3.50, 8.30, 14.30 or 30.00 at the distances of 1500, 3000, 5000 and 10.000 meters. There is a fine line between competitive running and running to be in a good shape, and some of the Finnish runners don´t seem to realize the difference.

So have I reached the end of my interest for sport. I know it by the end of this track & field -season. I still like to watch competitions at least for some level, but more than ever I know that running itself is so much bigger matter than competing without passion.