Top Ten Zen #10: True Strength

Hi blog,

Well...this is it. The final post down! (Insert song here...you know the one)

Top Ten Zen

Andrew and Nick have compiled a list of Zen-like philosophies comprised firstly of a quote, an interpretation of said quote, and finally a story to drive their point home. This list can aid you in doing anything from completing a 100-mile race to surviving cancer, or obtaining any goal you set your mind to. 

Here are the previous posts for those who missed them:

1. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
2. Body follows mind
3. The faster you hurry, the slower you go
4. You are not bound by your past
5. Life is only available in the here and now
6. You are the author of every next moment
7. Your worst enemy lies within
8. Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them
9. Find joy in every little thing

Andrew's first steps after three months of being in a wheelchair

"True strength is found in the face of adversity."

The Survivor’s Take:  It is in hardship that you can get the best glimpse of how strong you truly are. And usually, you’re a lot stronger than you ever imagined.

The Runner’s Take:  See the mountain not as a something to lament about, but rather as an opportunity to prove yourself, either against yourself or your competitors.

Survivor’s Tales: When people find out what I’ve been through, the most frequent comment doled out to me is: “Wow! I could never go through what you went through! You must be so brave and/or strong (they don’t usually say “and/or”) to go through all that!” But I’m not sure that I’m any stronger or braver than anyone else if I’m being honest. Prior to my diagnosis, I would have said exactly the same thing: that I could never go through something so traumatic and difficult. However, that’s exactly what happened. Lurking somewhere within me was an unrelenting strength that refused to let me give up, that refused to let me give in. I don’t think I would have discovered it had I not been diagnosed with leukemia, and I think it’s inside us all. It can be difficult to truly know the measure of your potential until you face hardship. However, when you do find that adversity, it’s amazing what sort of strength you can discover deep within you.

Mountain Tales: I was approaching mile 90 of Ronda del Cims. I’d run out far ahead of Carles (now 4th place) and was trying to gain on 2nd place. I followed flag after flag as the course went off trail and started bushwhacking through high brush and small streams. It was 7:00am, 30 degrees outside and I was soaked! The flags taunted me as they seemed to aimlessly wander back and forth across a powerful 10-foot stream. I slipped once or twice, soaking my shoes, and resolved once again to go crashing through the thick brush. About two hours passed and a very infuriated, agitated Nick finally breached tree level and came into a clearing. I looked back at the hell that I’d just ascended. High bushes, cold streams, no trail, no footing. Adversity at its finest. Each step I took was one more step that I conquered and I reassured myself that I’d likely not come across anything worse than that for the remainder of the race.

Beautiful, but not quite the place you would want to run

Of course, just because we are sharing our own extreme examples does not mean that these philosophies are all strictly for extreme situations. We share these because they can be used by anyone in the proper situations and we invite you, dear reader, to take these helpful tips into the world to use as you see fit. Feel free to hoard them or share them with others. It is both of our hope that these do some good somewhere, and so we wish you luck in your journey of a thousand Zen-filled steps.

And that concludes Top Ten Zen! I would like to say it has been an honor for us both to be able to do this series and be able to share it with so many people. We have received very heart-warming and enthusiastic feedback from many of you and are touched that we have been able to offer help and guidance to a number of people. What started off as a mentality Nick adopted for a race turned into a comparison between styles of survival between us when it came to racing and beating cancer and then morphed into an idea for this series. I have to say, it really has been an enormous pleasure to be able to share our thoughts and experiences with you all and hope that our books have a similar effect when they come out in the near future. You are all, every one of you, fantastic.

Stay tuned to Andrew's continual progress in his recovery as well as his writings and musings at: http://survivingthecure.blogspot.com/
Keep up with Nick as he continues to race the most grueling races he can find at: http://ultrademus.blogspot.com/

Andrew Bundy

Nick Hollon

Top Ten Zen #5: Here and Now

Hey blog,

We're at the halfway point for the Zen series. Nick and I got together yesterday and had a marathon session (I guess an ultramarathon session for him, a marathon session would be a morning run by his standards) to get a ton of work done for the blogs. Several times we noted, with some incredulity, just how productive we were being and were quite pleased with ourselves. To celebrate that productivity, here's an amusing Zen cat. 

In the here and "meow"

Top Ten Zen

Andrew and Nick have compiled a list of Zen-like philosophies comprised firstly of a quote, an interpretation of said quote, and finally a story to drive their point home. This list can aid you in doing anything from completing a 100-mile race to surviving cancer, or obtaining any goal you set your mind to. 

Here are the previous posts for those who missed them:

1. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
2. Body follows mind
3. The faster you hurry, the slower you go
4. You are not bound by your past

"Life is only available in the here and now."

Onward and upward in the moment

The Survivor’s Take:  By focusing on this current moment, you can avoid all the stressors associated with worrying about the past and future.

The Runner’s Take:  Ground yourself in the present. When you run, just run. Be in the now, and be the best you can be in that moment.

Survivor’s Tales: In September 2010 I went in for surgery to have a double ankle transplant that would require me to be in a wheelchair, unable to put any weight on either ankle for upwards of three months. Three…months! Anytime I thought about how long I would be unable to walk, I nearly had a panic attack, and sometimes did. I couldn’t imagine not having use of my legs for three months. After about half a dozen panic attacks, I wondered if there was another way to look at the situation. Maybe I shouldn’t focus on how inconceivably long three months was, maybe I should just focus on getting through it one day at a time. By focusing on the now, I managed to almost completely reign in my panic attacks and those last few weeks in the wheelchair didn’t seem all that bad. I stopped worrying about the future and focused on getting through that moment.

Mountain Tales: Trail running, especially technical trail running, demands a certain sense of presence. When I was pushing my way up the notoriously technical Comapedrosa, large boulders shook underneath each weary step I took. The climb required my full attention and presence. If my thoughts had been anywhere else during that climb, I’m sure I would have slipped. But what about the not so technical parts of the race? Places where my mind could wander? I kept control of my drifting thoughts by zeroing in on the next red flag, the next course marker or, at times, the runner ahead of me. In this way, I was grounded in the moment and felt I was able to move forward with efficiency and purpose. Endurance racing is often about conservation of energy and there is no better way to preserve your mental energy than to ground yourself in the present.

Living in the moment with giant medical boots

This series has been a fun, uplifting experience for the two of us and has opened our eyes both to each other and our unique experiences. We've learned a lot about each other, little things, big things, and gained a new understanding of ourselves. We hope that this series has been helpful to those that read it and has allowed you to gain a similar enlightenment into your own life and thoughts. It has been a pleasure and an honor to share ourselves with you. Thank you all for reading, and a big extra thanks to those who have shared our posts with others, it means a lot to us that you think highly enough of our work to show it to others and we hope you continue to do so. As a thank you to everyone, Andrew wanted to share a short story he wrote a few months ago: Relax.

Nick Hollon
Andrew Bundy