I’m reading a book about running. That by itself is not very remarkable. I’ve read dozens of books about running. This book is different. It’s the first running book I’ve read that makes the statement “love is power.”
I’ve come to know thousands of runners, and I’ve never heard it put quite that way. The odd little book is Gerry Lindgren’s Book on Running, written by “The Shadow of Gerry Lindgren,” which allows the story to be told in third person. Rick Kleyman, a longtime Minnesota high school coach, lent me the book recently.
Gerry Lindgren was probably America’s finest distance runner in the early 1960’s, setting American and world records in high school, college and beyond. You’ve probably never heard of him, or perhaps just vaguely recall the name.
I’m halfway through the book, so I’ll save a review of the full content for a later date, but I was struck by some of his comments. The ‘love is power’ theme is repeated throughout the book. He expands on it: “Love is power! When your running is done unselfishly, for the benefit, happiness, and welfare of other people, you tap into a power base other people don’t have. Love is power!” Even more pointedly, he contends: “When you live to glorify yourself, energy flows out of you. When you live selflessly for other people, energy flows into you. You can carry a greater load and never get tired.”
Lindgren expands on this idea of power, comparing it to force. “Force is pushing against something. For every force, there is an equal and opposite force acting against it. Forcing something can only be done temporarily. People burn out. But power is always there, not working against anything. You strain into a force but relax into power. Love provides the energy. Relax into love-energy as a runner and let yourself run faster rather than forcing yourself to run. The more your running is motivated by love the faster you can run.”
What he is saying is strangely synchronous with the teachings of ChiRunning, which I’ve passed on since I became a certified instructor in 2006. In ChiRunning we talk about not meeting a force with a force. We talk about relaxing to run faster rather than pushing off harder. We talk about tapping into Chi energy. We talk about it being process oriented rather than goal oriented. The similarities are striking.
Lindgren was known for running himself ragged, and his form was not what we teach in ChiRunning. But this idea of tapping into something greater than you is shared by both.
I was recently at an event to celebrate the athletes of Team USA Minnesota. The team was formed in 2001 to support post-collegiate athletes seeking to compete at national and international competitions. I am a board member, so I have seen the organization since it’s infancy. I know how hard the athletes work, and how much effort the coach puts in. While they all have healthy enough egos to want to win races and medals, they all come at it from the perspective of wanting to make America more competitive in distance running. That starts by putting in the hard work and challenging their teammates in practice and other Americans in races. Now Americans are gaining respect once again internationally.
Lindgren did not have the benefit of such an organization when he came out of college, but he understood the importance of such big dreams. He writes, “Dream an enormous dream. An enormous dream is a reason to sacrifice yourself to running. Winning a gold medal or setting a world record are not worthy of enormous dream status because they are selfish. Dream a dream of changing the world. That is what I am trying to tell you in this book. It is possible. All those foolish kid dreams you quit dreaming as you grew older are not just kid dreams. Your running life could change the world. Dream an enormous dream.”
Look at your running. Are you using force or power? Are you inspiring others? You don’t have to set world records to be an inspiration. I was inspired to run by seeing my parents make the effort. What got you started?
As Lindgren says, love is power, and by sharing that love you help create an endless supply of power for the future.
