This is the joy of my martial arts path as well.

In my experience, (This is a Mechanical Elves take on it (I studied Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, Danzan Ryu, Small Circle, and my Professor Larry Cary said to me one session:

"The movements I am teaching you awaken dormant brain circuitry. When you do these movements, all the old Masters are with you"

That was the moment it really clicked for me.

Later, Soke Hatsumi was quoted in the infamous "Understand? Good. Play!" book -- my favorite quote:

"I am teaching you to wield a sword, even if you have no arms!"

--

The reason is that these two statements allowed me to see what the true nature of my Joy of Movement truely was: I was able to see the Principles of Movement flow through me - (we call this The Mode) - and it was that feeling that was being fully present is what I sought and I feel thats the nature of Mastery of any craft.

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@sebg:

You'd really love this Scientest's interview:

"Things like 'YOU' - that took the Universe Billions of years to generate 'YOU' - you have a lot of Time embedded in you..."

https://youtu.be/6o8OFTrSTpk?t=7832

Fn prphetic. This Scientists entire podcast and more is worth Time.

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I wrote this Haiku a long while back:

Movement and Measure

All is One, flowing through Time.

Another yourself.

Love this line from your post "The marathon is simply an exhibition of the labor it took to achieve it, it is not the goal in and of itself."

I've run a few marathons. I'm not fast. I haven't done it in a while. But I think I'd like to do it again. You're not wrong, I'm going to quibble a bit because I have a slightly different perspective that might be helpful. First, a little context. For me a marathon is all about training. That first day it might only be 50 steps. A few weeks or months in, I can go a mile or 3. Then it's just awful. Every little weak tendon and muscle is crying out. Walk for a bit then get back to running. After the early bit, I get 3-4 miles into a run, then have to decide, 3-4 miles back home or 6 to just finish the run. I think that's the critical point. am I just going to walk home? That's an option. but I've gone so far. Walk a lot and just finish the damn route. And that's kind of the point. A lot of comments are arguing about semantics, and I get that. But the point is just get through the bullshit however you can. It's ok to kind of hobble along. Stop by the bar and have a beer or three and make it home. There's no shame in that. Finishing the loop, however you can, is still finishing the loop.

Me, personally, getting past that critical point, embracing the suck. That's kinda the point. I hit that miserable point. I keep moving forward however I can. Whatever stupid bullshit comes up, you (I) just get through it. Somehow. it doesn't matter how. And then there's a bit of a release. Maybe just glide through the last few miles. Maybe rub some dirt on it and walk home. It doesn't really matter because I complete the loop. I sort of shed the vision of what it might be, and learn what it really is. And that's super helpful.

Mark Twain wrote life on the Mississippi, and wrote a lot about how cool it would be to be a riverboat pilot. The beautiful pink sky, the ripples on the water. And there's sort of a heartbreaking transition when he learns the pink sky means a storm is coming. the ripples mean there's a sandbar. In his unknowing dream, everything he loved about it was a disaster waiting to strike. He learned in his own way.

For me, there's a joy and romance to running a marathon that was completely unlike what I thought it was before I started.

So anyway, maybe the subtle shift from goal to quest is enough to help some people embrace the suck. Nothing is what you think it is without doing it. there are parts that are awful. if you can get through it, you'll get nothing you hoped for. but maybe the change of perspective is enough.

I honestly don’t disagree with you. I too experience “the suck”. But the good parts of runs make the suck worth it. It’s just a roll of the dice. You never know if it’s gonna suck.

Also I feel you on the taking breaks part. There’s no rules. Nothing beats sitting on the curb eating some junk and drinking some Gatorade mid-run.

sitting on the curb drinking gatorade is what it's all about. you, or I, just sort of accept that it's miserable. but survivable. It's a thing we can do.

my experience anyway. your milage may vary.

beautifully said