The Body Can Adapt to Anything ...

I often mention that before I started barefoot running, I went to a beginner barefoot workshop in Central Park with Michael Sandler, author of Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth

Recently, he posted on FB a link to this youtube video he made, which I have posted below. I thought it was inspirational, but I am a bit of a sucker for things like this, especially when they pick the right music to go with it.  I get all emotional inside.

Another thing is that a video like this brings out my idealism.  In the video you see him running in snow and icy water and on rocks up mountains.  He is truly doing all that, and the idealist in me buys what he says at the end, that the body can adapt to anything if you allow it.  But what can sometimes be missing is the hard journey in between to get to that point.  After watching a video like this, I just want to go outside and just do what he's doing.  But the reality is that the road there is tough.  You have to believe you're going to get there.  It's like being inspired by an opera singer, but then confronting the reality when you try to sing like that.  It's going to take a lot of committed hours and dedication and mistakes and frustrations before you can do that.

This doesn't mean that we can't achieve these things.  But if our idealism is tickled by the ideal, then we might have to just find out if we've got the stuff in us to get there.  For some it will be tougher and take longer than for others.  And the funny thing is, it is not even something that anyone has to do.  It's something to do if you think it's cool and if you want to find out if it's really true.  You have to go on faith for a long time though.