Aaron Carrillos (BFA ’12)

State of Clarity

“State of Clarity”, Animation, 1min:56sec

I’m running through the woods. My legs are burning and it’s becoming harder and harder to catch my breath. I want to stop, but I just keep on pushing through. Just one more step, just one more. Suddenly, I start to open up my stride. It slowly start becoming easier and easier to breathe. The burning sensation in my legs: it’s not as if it goes away, but more like pain no longer bothers me.

The trail itself slowly fades away. I go into my own little world where only the current action on the exact moment matters. My body feels invisible and it’s as if I’m floating on clouds. My mind clears and every problem or issue in my life suddenly becomes insignificant. I feel as if I’m free and the only thing I want is to run faster, to run longer. Then as suddenly as the sensation came, I snap back to reality. I’m breathless and the pain becomes relevant, I have to slow down or stop completely.

This has happened to me various times during hard workouts, this getting in “my zone” or experiencing a runner’s high. State of Clarity shows how I feel during my runner’s high. I think the breaking of a mental barrier is the most important step to the high. The body is controlled by the mind. So if you can just imagine yourself being stronger, being more than you are, then the body will have to obey the mind.