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In the past, every time I thought of a marathon, the effort seemed, quite literally, unimaginable.
Why would anyone face this trial and carry such a weight?
In the past few months, I began to run. I wanted to see time differently and, without admitting it, liberate myself from a burden.
We all have our stories, our mistakes and secrets. The storyteller Alain Le Goff says
in his reading of the legend of King Marc'h (cousin of Midas) and his barber:
"A secret can be as heavy as a stone around the neck of a drowning man."
In life, the soul and the body are severely tested. From the ancient myths of Atlas, Medusa, Sisyphus, Prometheus,
we see how carrying a stone or becoming a stone are a form of punishment and atonement.
This is also known as "lithotomy": the surgical extraction of stones from the body (illustrated by Hieronymus Bosh).
In other ancient tales, the stone is a symbol of potential and hope:
the foundation stone, the uncut stone, the black stone of the Kaaba, the philosopher's stone, Jacob's stone.
Moreover, the stone can be magical: a talisman, moonstone, lightning stone, stone of invisibility (from Boccaccio, Decameron),
Dream stones, even...the list goes on...
For all of this, I will carry my stone, not merely a pebble in the shoe,
but a stone in my hand. Since childhood, I have always remembered this piece of advice:
When a stitch occurs during jogging, take a stone in your palm,
on the opposite side of the pain, and it will pass...
-> pictures
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