Till The Sparks Fly!

It is a well-known and documented fact that I crave an opportunity to punish my body, constantly creating new ways to shock and amaze it into keeping the weight off.  Sure, I realize there are better and easier ways of doing it, but what can I say – I am just a bit on the stubborn side (yeah, just a little!), and if something works for me – I am not changing the routine.  And of course, it’s difficult to continuously come up with the new ways of torturing myself and waking up earlier and psyching myself up, etc.

But thankfully, a few times a year I don’t have to.

On those rare occasions, I get an opportunity to punish myself in the most natural and insane way, without any additional effort or thought process required!  During those times, my body is already exhausted and punished beyond belief, even prior to stepping out for a run, and so the rest of it is purely mental and mechanical.  OK, no more mystery, I am referring to those few times each year when we are required to fast, due to our religious and / or cultural obligations.

Anyone can go a day without eating, no big deal, however, going without water in the summer time is a bit more extreme.  Now try both for 25 hours straight in the August heat, and you truly got something!  And twice a year we actually subject ourselves to this very combination, not eating or drinking, not even applying any water to the face or hands, for exactly 25 hours.  We actually had one just yesterday, on August 9^th, and like it or not (and chances are – you would not), but it is bound to have some sort of effect on your body.

Now here is what I simply love and yearn for!  Waking up the next morning, and pushing myself for an extra violent, lengthy, rock-music-pumping run, one of those that make your body wonder what it ever did to you, and why you are repaying it with such unjust punishment…. Typically, at the end of these fun experiences, you begin to produce some sort of a new facial sweat, a cold kind, and of course, you begin seeing stars flying in all directions right in front of you, kind of like your own private fireworks!  And since you know it’s definitely not the 4^th of July, that’s when you start thinking about ending the madness, going home and drinking something cold.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I don’t get such opportunities for self-infliction too often, but the experience is entirely surreal.  As I said, I know there are easier paths to weight control and cardio exercises, but who would pass up on these interesting methods of testing your own boundaries and seeing just how far it is that you can bend the reality?!

And definitely,

Keep it running!