Why I run

This week I got a really fun app called "Zombies, Run". Basically it includes a bunch of different narrative storylines where you are a runner who stumbles onto a base in the midst of the zombie apocalypse and to earn your keep you become a runner for them. You run to nearby communities and scavenge all the food and supplies you can find. The fun part of the app is that it measures your speed and every once in awhile you get close to a zombie and need to run 20% faster for a bit. It is ridiculously exciting and slightly dangerous too. The other morning I was running back from school and there was sheer ice from a recent melting and then freezing, my shoe had become untied, and there was no way that I could stop running or slow down to tie my shoe because zombies were chasing me. I got back home so out of breath and laughing in delight because I had made it safely. 

When you run you can be doing two things: running away from something or towards something. 

What I'm running away from

I want to run away from the lazy person that I sometimes am. I want to run from the belief that I can never accomplish anything difficult or interesting and that I'll never be good enough. I naturally like to take the easy way out and the interesting thing I found is that running can actually be the easy way out. It saves money on gas, it lengthens my lifespan, it lowers my risk factors for a whole swathe of diseases, it gives me great endorphins, it gives me more confidence, and it gives me time to meditate and think so that I am more prepared for the problems of the rest of my life. A little bit of difficulty of running makes my life much easier. 

What I am running towards

I run towards my future. Physically I often run towards home and my work and metaphorically too. I can think clearer when I run and so I am running towards solutions. I studied running form a lot and I found that the very best way to run is to run easy, light, and fast. Basically running as silently as you can naturally gives you good running form because you aren't hitting the ground so hard anymore. In  the summer I run barefoot and one time I was able to completely sneak up on a cat and get within a foot of her. When she turned and saw me it was like a cartoon how her legs went in all different directions and she scooted off faster than I believed possible. I think that's true of life too. We can get where we want to go a lot quicker if we're not stomping so hard to be heard and we are willing to do what's important regardless of whether we are noticed or not. 

I run because it's the closest thing I've found to human flight. When I lose myself in the rythm of my steps and the air through my hair and the world speeding by its almost as if I can fly. That's why I love running in sandals or barefoot with no extra clothing. Your senses come alive and it's like you can feel the world more fully. You can only hear the wind and the gentle tap tap of your footfalls. Running while its snowing is even more peaceful and surreal. The snow muffles almost all the sound and you are for once perfectly by yourself in the world. Able to think without any distractions and exist in the real world with the pure physicality of snowflakes hitting your face and icicles forming on your beard. There are few things that compare. 

I run most of all because it is fun. One of my heroes barefoot Ted talks about the idea of "golden miles". Those miles where you just enjoy every second of running them. They are what makes it all worth it. It is not always so enjoyable, but those few golden miles make all the rest of the miles worth it. 

That's why I run.