What Makes a Man Run?
March 7, 2011 § 7 Comments
People can’t understand why a man runs.
They don’t see any sport in it.
Argue it lacks the sight and thrill of body contact.
Yet, the conflict is there, more raw
and challenging than any man
versus man competition.
For in running it is man against
himself, the cruelest of opponents.
The other runners are not the real
enemies. His adversary lies within
him, in his ability, with brain and
heart to master himself and his
emotions.
~Glenn Cunningham
Why do you run?
Glad your mom liked the blog! I’m sure she’s one proud lady.
Funny you should post this topic when you did because I’m in the process of updating my scrapbooks and had just come across an article I wrote about cross country in 1998, part of which was about why people run. The quote to close the article still sums it all up for me:
“Running is the classical road to self-conciousness, self-awareness and self-reliance. You learn the harsh reality of your own physical and mental limitations when you run. You learn that personal commitment, sacrifice and determination are the only means to betterment.”
by Noel Carrol
Good luck at nationals. I’ll be there Saturday, so guess I’ll see you on the track! And hope you get that school record this time.
What a great quote – I’m definitely going to write that down and save it! I’m interested in reading the article to if you still have an online copy of it, wouldn’t want to make you take it out of your scrap book for me.
I’ll scan it and email it to you on Wednesday. I had a few coaches come up to me the week after saying it was a good one so eventually sent an edited version to Cross Country Journal, who published it. No idea if CCJ is still out there…don’t subscribe anymore.
That would be great! I’ll see if I can search anything up on it.
Look for “The Quotable Runner” by Mark Will-Weber. The tag line explains the content well…’great moments of wisdom, inspiration, wrongheadedness, and humor.’
I am not to big on running as I am going for long ass bike rides in the summer or perhaps aimless meanders. But I suppose I do it because I like to prove myself to the world. But at the same time no one is watching. So it is more to prove to myself I can push my limits.
It gives my free thinking time and I am also aware of the psychological and health benefits. However people get caught up in running for health and exercising to lose weight or maintain weight. It needs to be much more than that I feel for it to work.
The book on creativity that I read said people run for the soul just as people write for the soul. I think that is why people should run, it should be spiritual.
That’s a great way to put it – people run for the soul just as people write! I love it!
Running also gives me a great deal of thinking time, though thinking doesn’t always occur during our workouts. What about walking Jacob? That seems like the best way for me to relax – just going out on a long walk and losing myself in my thoughts.