Sadly, it seems it all went horribly wrong:
IN SEARCH OF AZTLÁN
Dr. Frank Meza
August 25, 2000
Q: Going back to the running. Could you explain further how you see running as a sacred act?
A: The first hook that we have with our kids and the people I coach--I coach about 70 boys right now--we, basically, hook [them] on the competition. Remember that they're victims of the whole process that winning is the most important thing. And they like to win. They've been taught. They watch sports on T.V. So we run in competitions, and they learn to run to win. But slowly we start evolving [towards] the real value of it, [which] is just the ability to be able to run, and to enjoy the actual running. Not how fast you did it, not if you beat somebody, but just that you did it, the sheer joy of it. And the way it's incorporated is, every once in a while, maybe once or twice a week, these runs are created that are called "fun trail runs." What they are is, basically, running for the sheer pleasure of running. It seems to us much easier to do it when we are on dirt.
Running is more than just beating somebody else, or covering the distance in a certain amount of time. There's actually a pleasure in doing that. But it's more of a self-fulfilling pleasure, not [because] you beat somebody.
In the general running circles they talk about "runner's high." There is this euphoria that takes place. A lot of us think it’s close to meditation and it’s close to prayer. It doesn’t happen every day. We’re almost addicted to running because we're trying to get to that state. Sometimes we get there, sometimes we don't. I’ve been running on a daily basis since I was 16 and I'm 52 now. And I would say that once or twice a week I can do that. It’s a gift we want to give all the children that we coach. It occurs easier, we think, when you're close to Mother Nature, when you're on the trail, uneven surfaces, near trees. It seems to be easier to get to this meditation state. We don't know what it is. We just know that when you get there, it's something that you would like to get back. Once you’re kind of hooked, you’re hooked.
Q: Quite apart from your medical work, you created the Aztlán Field and Track Club. What is the purpose of that club?
A: Aztlán Track Club is an important component of the philosophy for health. In 1974, some very elite athletes in our communities started to feel that it was important that people recognize that we had more purpose other than just "our" sports. And so, in order to de-emphasize one of the sports that had been attributed to our community, boxing, there were a lot of kids that were really fine runners. And we felt that it was more of a positive role model in sport to focus on track and field, long distance running, which we had excelled for forever. And which is actually part of our Native American tradition. Many of our native peoples had a philosophy that incorporated running as part of life. And we’re talking about North America, with some of the Hopi and the Navajo, all the way to the Rarámuris of a Meso-America. But most Native Americans ran as part of their life. It was part of the spirit.
Running means movement. There is no life without movement. And we feel that in today’s society, having cars, having remote T.V.s are actually a buy-in into a very unhealthy lifestyle. And that running kind of reminds us that the reason that we’re here is for mind and body. And that you can’t have a mind without a body. They’re interrelated. They cannot be separated. And so that’s why running is kind of important. It goes past being a sport. It's part of being the whole energy that native peoples believed in, and that’s why running is something we don’t just do for exercise.
Many times, we use running almost as a metaphor. Running is hard. Sometimes we don’t want to do it. But we know that if we do it, [we'll] get a reward. And sometimes it's not an immediate reward. It’s a reward that lasts. There is a euphoria when we do something that looks impossible, and we're able to do it. When we're able to endure the pain, the shortness of breath, the aching muscles, but you endure it and you make it. There is this pleasure that is [undescribable] once you’re able to conquer that. We believe that's exactly what happens when you’re trying to achieve academically or in business or in politics. The ability to do it, to not find an excuse to do it. We find no excuses for anything that we do. And running just reminds us on a daily basis [of] that struggle. We see native peoples talking about the struggle with life and death. Running reminds us of the struggle against pain, the struggle against being lazy, the struggle against succumbing to the easy path. Every day we force ourselves to go out there and run. And it reminds [us] that [we] are always filled with a challenge. Running is just a reminder.
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