The Legs Feed The Wolf

"Push it! The legs feed the wolf!"

I can hear my dad yelling at me as I come around the last corner before I reach my house, the finish line of my run. Running a few paces behind me, he's yelling at me to give it all I got in the last hundred metres or so. I start sprinting full out and upon reaching my driveway crumple to the grass.

This isn't the first time I've heard the ol "the legs feed the wolf" encouragment from my dad, and it probably won't be the last. I like it, mainly because in my run-addled brain I envision wolves are chasing me to the end of my route, hungry wolves who have a particular taste for Canadian teenagers. In reality it's only my dad who I have to fend off in the last stretch, no easy feat considering he's a 4-time marathoner.

I first heard the saying back when I watched the movie Miracle and Herb Brooks barked it out to his team. I have a feeling my dad was well aquainted with the phrase, having put in a good several decades under similarily wise, and gruff, hockey coaches, and he has become fairly fond of using it to motivate me and my siblings while running.

Although my brain may not use the saying as it is meant to be used I think it is tremendously relevent and even, dare I say, inspiring.

What I get from "The legs feed the wolf" is just that, for wolves to eat they must be able to catch their food, and to catch their food they need scary-fast legs.

Although I'm not as fury as a wolf and I don't generally chase down deer and moose for dinner, I think this saying can be translated into life really well. When you have a passion or a goal, like writing a book, learning how to speak French or annoying your friends and family, you have to do more than just think about it, you have to take action. You have to start writing short stories or character sketches. You have to take French lessons and maybe travel to Quebec and practice. You have to buy a vuvuzeula and play it continuously in your backyard. The point is, planning and thinking is important to achieving any goal, but to actually get it done you have to really want it and then act on that desire.

But no wolf is born the fastest hunter in the pack, they must practice and develop their legs, just as runners must train and push themselves to pass that competitor in front of them in the last seconds of a race or to beat their personal best time. Nothing comes easy, but practice goes a long way to achieving your goals.

So next time you want to get something done or are just hungry just remember, the legs feed the wolf.

The Noble Pursuit of Frisbee Golfing

My favourite place to run is the park. I'll take a good park, or even a bad park, to run in over a new stadium track or quiet suburban streets anyday. And definitely over any treadmill ever!

One of the greatest, most fundamental aspects of running is the freedom I feel while doing it and feeling the grass beneath my feet, the gravel in my shoes and smelling the musty pond water in my nostrils makes it feel all the more natural, freeing and exciting. Now there's not a whole lot of untamed wilderness where I live so parks have become one of my best friends.

I've seen a lot of things in the parks I have run in, some I would rather not have seen and some that make my legs pump faster (more on those things later). One of the most constant things I have seen while running in the park near my house (in which I have logged hundreds of kms) are frisbee golfers, or disc golfers.

Frisbee Golf is almost exactly like regular golf, only instead of a ball it's a frisbee, instead of a hole it's a metal poll and basket and instead of Tiger Woods, there's, um, well to be honest I don't think there's too many scandalous figures in the world of frisbee golfing.

The reason for the lack of Tiger Woods-like figures in frisbee golf is probably due to the fact that, to be honest, the sport isn't exactly the most popular. But to me it's just as noble as any other sport out there exactly for that reason. These frisbee golfers don't play for money or fame or girls, but simply for the love of the game and to hang out with their friends. And guess what, they look happier then a lot of the pro sports guys out there.

I always felt that there was an unspoken bond between frisbee golfers and me when I was running. Both activities are similar in that most people don't do it for attention, but to achieve their own goals and for the pure love of the game. Me and the Frisbee golfers had to climb the same hills, get soaked by the same rain, deal with the same wind and side step the same goose poop, but I have a feeling that all that never mattered to either of us because we were doing something we loved. We understood this and would nod and smile at each other every time we passed ways.

It's the same in life. We all have good days, the equivalent of a nice sunny day with no wind and 20 degree weather for runners and Frisbee golfers, but there's always going to be massively tiring hills, cold rain, fierce winds and, unfortunatley, goose poop throughout life too. And we won't even get put on Nike commercials or have over 100,000 fans on facebook for dealing with it. But I figure that as long as we do the things we love and surround ourselves with people we love, that love us and understand us, then at the end of the day we'll all be able to smile when we come to a hill, let the wind give you a push and have the rain refresh you while really enjoying those sunny days all the more.