Recently we had like 7 hours long retrospective meeting organized by the team. Wasn't planned to be that long to be honest and took entire working day away. Can't say I am a big fan of this, but sometimes people need to talk the things through until they are out of energy. Let it be.
During this conversation I have been asked why do we need to be that fast? Why do we have to push so hard? What drives us to walk an extra mile when there is no clear threat or a deadline ahead of us? Who do we compete with? Do we show off? Why am I always asking if it can be ready sooner? Why can not we stick to what is reasonable? Is this a speed for the sake of speed? Why can't we just do that much and call it a day? What's the meaning behind all of that?
Well, after all, this question has stuck in my head. For me it is clear. But how can you answer to someone asking why people run that far away or swim that fast? How can you determine what drives some of us to the top of the mountain where there is no air to breath? What thinks one crossing couple of African countries on a bike instead of living calmly life in a lovely Switzerland? How can one can rationalize what makes English or Spanish soccer teams to be the best? What drove Argentina to make it into the title of FIFA World Champions 2022 while they could just be as good as others are? What pushes Red Bull team to build a new car faster than previous one when they are already dominate the track of F1? And what than is the reason for Max Verstappen to drive this car into that U-curve turn with a speed of 300 km per hour? How can you know what makes you strive to be the first in a class instead of sticking to what you can do at the moment or what you have achieved yesterday?
The only one real answer I have for this question, in the end of the day, comes from Scott Jurek's "North". Running 2000 miles in Appalachian Trail he was asking himself for what purpose he suffers and endures all of this? Money? Fame? Recognition? How stupid he could be starting this path for such a loosely reason? All of that fades away once you are in a pain cave, struggling to do the next step. The only reasoning which could stay around even in the lowest moment was: "This is who I am. This is what I do". He finished with the fastest know time of 46d 8h 7m 0s of running. Which was beaten by 41d 7h 39m 0s of Karel Sabbe just 3 years later.
This is who we are. This is what we do. And this is how it begins.