What's in a run?

I've been pretty busy with a couple of projects I have going on right now (building a website, jotting down some stories I've been thinking of for a while), on top of all my other goings on during the day. But I felt I had to get this one off my chest.

Between the last couple of days, I've had some insightful runs. They weren't that I had never noticed these things before, but for some reason my brain decided to play games and did not kick in until today.


I think part of the reason that running was the sport that just fit me like a glove is that you really notice things when running. Which in this day and age is highly appreciated. What do I mean? Well when you go down the road in a car what does a person notice? The color of a house? The style, maybe the mailbox or what kind of car is paked in the driveway? Perhaps, if you have a good eye. But when you're running you also notice things like how the owner of the house has painstakingly tried repairing his mailbox after kids were playing a round of 'mailbox baseball'. Or maybe you catch a glimpse of a parent being greeted by his wife and kids after coming home from work. But for me it has to be things like noticing how blue the sky is, or how great that freshly cut grass in the afternoon smells; things that you can't really experience in the comfort of a car. It is stupid things like these that make running so endearing for me.

Plus there isn't really a whole lot to do while on a run besides materialize your thoughts or talk to the person/people you're running with. In this case you can have many meaningful conversations, which can easily be remembered years down the road. I still remember the first time I ran down at Red Bank when I did not want to take my shirt off and my coach asked 'if I was dumber than a bag of hammers'. You really get to know a person when you spend at least 5 days a week running for at least an hour, with nothing to do but talk.

Some of my best high school memories took place during the heat of the day on a run. So yes on top of trying to prepare for the upcoming season/race or the never-ending quest for an improved time, running has many different levels of significance that make true runners stay with their sport even long after they've graduated.