Rabbit Run

A throwback to John Updike, author of the famed Harry Angstrom saga and series of novels: Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. The main character was often referred to as Rabbit due to his pinched ears and protruding two front teeth. I was handed down Rabbit Redux by a senior when I was a freshman at NYU right before we lit up a spliff. It remains one of my favorite books.

But this post is not about Rabbit, John Updike or my naïveté as a freshman. This post is about my recent completion of the 2008 ING NYC Marathon...and perhaps a few other things. Where's the connection you ask? I don't know. But what I do know is that when I think of the title Rabbit Run I think of myself training for and completing the marathon. Harry Angstrom the hero of the Rabbit saga played basketball for his high school and for a brief period of time was a local hero for his success on the team. Overtime though his heroism ran dry and left him a middle-aged nobody. While I am nowhere near middle age nor do I consider myself a nobody I can relate to that sequence of events. After finishing the marathon I was tired and proud. But something inside me wouldn't let me just sit back an milk the moment. Something told me that one marathon is a great accomplishment but that I needed to keep moving.

That was kind of how I felt throughout all of 2008. I needed to keep moving or else I might get stuck.

The year started off with a family crisis. My father suffered a stroke. Perhaps one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced. But like my instinctual feeling my father too had to keep moving. Almost a year later he is now driving and cursing. A lot.

Then my girlfriend and I broke up after being together four and a half years. It was a hard thing to accept but the right thing for both of us to do. But I wouldnt allow myslef to get down about it. Perhaps in a moment of clarity I decided it was then time to visit my family in Uruguay (but not without a week of debauchery in Buenos Aires). It was fulfilling to visit my homeland but not enough. I needed to keep moving. Upon returning my brilliant friends decided they too needed some thrills and suggested we all sky dive. In an email reply I let them know I would do it thinking the day wouldn't come. Yet two weeks later I was driving with three friends to New Paltz, NY for the jump. A few hours later I was screaming "holy shiiiiiit" from 15,000 feet.

But still I needed to keep moving. Around this time I entered in a quiet relationship with a co-worker that bloomed into a rich relationship. She took me to Nantucket where she had summered years before. We rode bikes around the island, soaked in the sun and ate good food. It was a great weekend. From there she took me on a 26 mile run through the boroughs of new York city. It was her initial motivation to do it herselft that eventually made me run. And I'm happy that I took advantage of the opportunity.

Now I sit still looking 2009 dead on wondering what that year will bring. How can I seize opportunities as they come and keep moving? And when would I feel at ease with my experiences and content?

So I look at Rabbit as a role model almost, and admire him for his accomplishments as a high school basketball hero, but wonder where his life would have lead had he continued to achieve instead of rest his laurels on teenage successes.

I suppose I should ask John Updike.

UPDATE: A moment of silence for John Updike who has since passed (RIP: 3/18/32 - 1/27/09)