Waking the Dragon Within
King of the Road: a marathon.
I stand stationary within the sea of runners, the camera of my eyes running through the length of everyone fighting the battle of man versus himself. And I cannot help but be amazed – what is it that makes man want to go through this undertaking and fight this battle against gravity, against skyrocketing heart rates, against pain? There must be pain: the initial brittleness of the bone, the resistance of the heart and then the pumping of the sweat through the glands until it breaks out and the player is bathed with the prize of having won against his will. The most natural state, after all, is supine. Yes, there must be pain.
Deliverance too. Because otherwise, why would they do it? I am almost sure that there is an insight here.
What is it?
I look about: they seem normal to me – some old, some new, maybe single, maybe fathers, maybe mothers. Some children are on the grass, playing, cheering a parent or parents on. I see celebrities: Rovilson Fernandez, a Kenyan runner, there were sightings too of Karylle. But mostly there was humanity – converged in these acres of grass, in various poses as they flex their bones and mentally prepare for the run.