“You get more cool every time you visit!”
My energetic, blonde nephews and niece are dangling over my shoulders, giggling their heads off with delight at our physical exertions, bathing in the sunshine of my full attention, and telling me just how fabulous that makes me, for them… The rules of the game we are playing are not entirely clear, but that often makes it all the more fun, if I can stand the constant state of flux that comes with their young imaginations.
It changes from them wanting to learn martial arts moves, to me carrying them around, to impromptu hopping, wheelbarrow or blindfolded races round a living room obstacle course… Then they want me to film the whole thing so they can enjoy it again afterwards — again and again and again!
Robert Johnson has written a precious short book entitled “Inner Gold”. I devoured it in one sitting, and finally understood the importance of the hero worship I have devoutly practiced in my own life, and that my nephews and niece are now bestowing on me, with their bright eyes and luminous smiles.
Johnson describes how our development progresses as we identify certain traits in others that we are also developing, but we are not quite big, strong, or old enough to embody yet for ourselves. So these nascent inner qualities of ours, such as courage, strength, integrity, kindness and many others — our inner gold — need to be safely experienced in others for a time until we can say “Yes, that is also mine!” It is somewhat like a grappling hook that we throw out towards that which we will become, and draw closer to it, until we are there — and the process can repeat with every stage of our personal development.
That which my nephews and niece feel and see in me, their superhero-uncle, is what they will become as they grow — and so much more.
And this hero worship, which we could also call an identification of our inner gold in others, carries on into adulthood.
On a whim, or so I thought, I signed up for the Spartan Race last year. The image of the strong, agile, courageous Spartan warrior struck a resonant chord in me, not that I even knew much about the Spartans at that time, beyond perhaps a few gory, stylised films.
I wanted to have a goal to train for, something that would motivate me to compile a workout schedule and a good diet, and then stick to it… But most of all, I wanted to look and feel like the Spartan warrior archetype! It exuded composure, prowess and physical confidence to me.
Even with all the preparation I did over the next 5 months, strength and endurance combined, I had no idea if I could complete the 7.5km course with 12 obstacles on the day of the race… This is the version of the Spartan Race that is, rather ironically, called a “Sprint”. But somehow, through the mud pits, flowing rivers, steep hills, climbing frames, and carrying or tugging of all sorts of things around mini circuits on the main obstacle course, I managed to complete it, and it was absolutely exhilarating.
At the finish line, a Spartan-looking voluptuous young woman hung a medal round my neck, just before I made a final dash to the water shed and put out my burning thirst in huge, refreshing glugs. I received my “gold” and felt rather darn Spartan at that moment. I had set free my own inner gold from the Spartan archetype, and could claim it for myself. I had the wounds on my knees, the scratches on my hands, the high adrenaline in my bloodstream and the beaming smile on my face to prove it! This was pure elation… I was that Spartan guy, the warrior that I had wanted to become… and suddenly he was more of an equal to me than a hero in my eyes.
It is a moment that I imagine with some trepidation, one day in the future, when my nephews and niece will look at me, and I will know that they have claimed back what they saw in me as their own shimmering gold. They will be strong and brave and capable, and know it for themselves. Will I still have worth in their eyes, then? How will my self-confidence and esteem cope with that? Do I need someone hero-worshipping me in order to feel special?
Well, the sensible part of me says that without all the shiny gold in the way between us, I suppose we will start to see each other more clearly, if nothing else.
We could even get very human together, and I might also be able to have weaknesses, fears and things I cannot do, without the worry of dispelling their illusions. The dis-illusion will allow them to know me for Marcus, and not superhero-uncle any longer. That feels like a relief inside me, although the trepidation of being “revealed” as (just) myself is also still there…
And as for the Spartan warrior, whose race I completed in the top third of the competitors last year, well, there is still some gold he carries for me. He, also, gets more cool every time I visit his race course. I am returning this year for an even longer obstacle course, to claim back even more of my own Spartan-ness!
[box type=”bio”]
Here is the Spartan Race length progression:
Spartan Sprint of 7.5km
Spartan Super of 15km, with many more obstacles to conquer
Spartan Beast of 21km, which is a half-marathon punctuated with obstacles to test every inch of muscle fibre and determination in the athletes’ bodies.
If you manage to do a Sprint, Super and Beast within one calendar year, then you can claim the Spartan Trifecta medal, which obviously holds extra super-shiny inner gold value!
And after the Beast, there is even something called the Spartan Death Race, which probably says it all in the name… But just in case that’s not descriptive enough for you, how about that particular race’s website at YouMayDie.com?
[/box]
As you can see, there are still a few more years of blood, sweat and tears to go until I have claimed my whole golden cargo back from the Spartan warrior archetype.
As my training this year progressed, I started to wonder why the Spartan Race is becoming so increasing popular for men and women all across the world. Are there loads of people, like me, who are out for their inner gold, or whatever they might call it? Why are they coming to the Spartan Race, and not the many other obstacle courses out there?
I met with Dan Tuffnell, the Spartan Race UK Manager, to find out more about this.
His theory, shared over a rather lean steak-sandwich lunch, is that the spirit of camaraderie, along with the high quality of the track, sets the Spartan Race apart from other obstacle courses. People actually help each other on the course, regardless of whether they are running alone or in huge teams. I experienced that last year, too, as I was pulled out of mud pits by complete strangers, and I then turned to pull out the next guy or girl behind me. There is also a strong safety ethos, with good quality obstacles and a carefully prepared course for the runners.
Unlike other outdoor obstacle courses, perhaps, there is no direct intention to cause the participants extraneous pain or injury: no electrical wires to electrocute them, no buttered monkey bars to ensure a fall — just fair obstacles, which may give the runners a scrape or two through their own enthusiasm.
With almost half of the participants being female, the Spartan Race concept is spreading fast across the world these days, with dozens of countries hosting races in 2014. There is even a world championship that will be a televised event in the USA, and the winner will get a pretty heavy prize purse.
Dan tells me, with a twinkle in his eye, that soon the Spartan Race will be held in enough countries to be considered for inclusion in the Olympics, too!
I get a warm feeling inside at his excitement. So even the Spartan Race, and its ultra-capable warrior image, has some inner gold to claim from someone. They have given it to the Olympic Games to hold until they grow big enough, and will one day they will take it back. The alchemical gold of transformation flows — from my nephews and niece to me, from me to the Spartan warrior, from the Spartan Race to the Olympic Games… and who knows where it goes from there.
My Junior Spartan nephews and niece in “training”
To bring this little tale of gold and Spartans, large and small, to a close, I would like to share my joy and pride at my nephews and niece competing in the Junior Spartan Race in Yorkshire this autumn, for the very first time. I will be out running the 7.5km Sprint there, after doing the 15km Super in London in the summer. I cannot wait to hear their stories and compare battle wounds with them after we all cross the finish lines. They will be getting back some of their gold already then, in the form of Junior Spartan medals.
I am grateful to the Spartan Race organisers for bringing the Spartan warrior archetype into my consciousness several millennia after the height of that civilisation. Claiming back all of that inner gold from the Spartan warrior is getting me into the best shape of my life, and now my nephews and niece, too!
Photos of Marcus in action kindly supplied by: Epic Action Imagery
