03 · The Body

A half marathon, every month

Discipline is the quiet engine under everything else. The dawn run. The early mat. The long climb above the coast. Nothing dramatic. Just shown up for, again.

Half marathon collage
A half marathon, every monthAndalucía

A half marathon a month is not heroic. It is just a rule I made for myself and refuse to break. The rule does the work. Some months I run it on a coastal road at first light. Some months I run it in a city I happened to be in. The point isn't the medal. The point is the promise kept.

Fifty is not a finish line. It is a starting gun.

Elad Alon and his daughter with finisher medals Runners at the start of a race in Málaga Elad Alon running past a stone tower Runners on the red carpet at the Sevilla half marathon finish Crowd of runners before the start Elad Alon with a finisher medal in front of a large number 21, Málaga Balloons released into a grey sky before a race Elad Alon on a race course Elad Alon in front of the Sevilla half marathon route map Selfie among runners at the start line Runners at a night race Elad Alon with a race bib beside the coloured glass cube in Málaga Málaga half marathon shirt and race bib Elad Alon and another runner at the finish arch Elad Alon with a race bib in front of a Marbella half marathon backdrop Elad Alon in swim shorts on a snowy jetty by a lake Elad Alon with a race bib on a road course Elad Alon with a finisher medal after a race

Málaga · Sevilla · Estepona · Andalucía. One every month, since.

The mats are quieter than running. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has taught me more about patience than any meditation cushion I have ever sat on. You cannot muscle your way out of a bad position. You wait, you breathe, you find the angle, you move. The rest of life is the same.

Then there is the bike. There are roads above this coastline that climb into thin air and quieter villages, and on a good week I find a way to get onto them for two or three hours of nothing but breath and gradient. That is where most of the thinking gets done. The thinking that matters.

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04 · The Author

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