I'm reading Scott Jurek's book Eat & Run and meeting him tonight at a Fleet Feet run and lecture event.
The book is full of inspiration, terrific stories and practical advice. On page 183 he writes about being about 50 miles into the Spartathlon in Greece in 2007. He needed water and most of the people he met weren't understanding his plea. Then a woman with "thick arms, thick ankles, and a rough, weather-beaten face" helped him out. She gave him a glass of ice water and also pulled some basil leaves from her garden for him. She signalled that he should put them in his pack.
He writes: "When I took the pack off, though, she pulled one of the leaves out and stuck it behind my ear. Then she kissed me on the cheek. Suddenly I felt a lightness and a strength. Whether it was her kindness, the water, or the basil (which I discovered later is the king of herbs, the word basil deriving from the Greek word basileus, which means king; it is revered as a symbol of strength and good luck in Greece), my mind shifted. It was the moment in an ultramarathon that I had learned to live for, to love. It was that time when everything seems hopeless, when to go on seems futile, and when a small act of kindness, another step, a sip of water, can make you realize that nothing is futile, that going on-especially when going on seems so foolish-is the most meaningful thing in the world."
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