I can run.
Such a simple statement... or is it?
I just ran about 10 miles from my house to my boyfriend's house (well, very near it). It was the first time I had run that route, and at the end of it I felt amazing! It's so freeing to realize that you don't actually NEED a car to get around. One of the things I love most about running is that it's so primal and minimalistic. All you need is a pair of shoes -- some people don't even need that. To know that you can embark on an adventure with just your own body is such a foreign concept these days. We've moved at warp speed from foot travel to wheel travel still powered by feet of some sort, wheel travel powered by engines, air travel, and wireless travel through the Internet. Call me old-fashioned, but I really like the prospect of retaining some of the old ways of living.
My run was inspired in part by the book I'm reading: Born to Run, the New York Times bestseller by Christopher McDougall. I'm a little late in reading this, as I refused to pay the price for a new copy of this book when all the runners were devouring it. Being my cheap self, I requested a copy from the library a few months ago and am still only 10th on the waiting list. From what I've read so far, there is a tribe of Native Americans called the Tarahumara in Mexico whose members are capable of running hundreds of miles without rest. They are a peaceful people who shy away from the fame and recognition that some of the other superathletes of the world thrive on. Running is just ingrained into their culture and lifestyle. They have run deeper into the Sierra Madre mountains to escape the expanding operations of loggers, miners, and others. But they also run for fun and community and peace building. I think that's really neat -- definitely something I want for my own life, hence the trans-Pali run today.
Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, said, "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." Running is what humans and other animals do to survive. Some humans don't have to run to survive anymore, so they don't. But at what expense? With our savvy advances in transportation technology have also come greater emission of poisons into the atmosphere, greater use of non-renewable energy sources, less activity and diminished physical health, and greater detachment from the Earth and the natural processes that provide our sustenance through food, water, protection, and recreation.
I'm not against cars, airplanes, boats, or the Internet. If I was, I wouldn't be blogging right now. What I'm trying to say, out of residual runner's high from this evening's run, is that running reminds me of humans' curious place in this world as both:
(1) Insignificant beings within the vastness of the universe, large-scale natural processes all around us, and the supreme will of God that can be executed without our permission and beyond our control; and
(2) Complex beings who are capable of a tremendous amount of accomplishment and impact on other beings and our environment.
There are many people who were also born with a desire to run but can't. There are people who run because they must, perhaps for transportation or survival. What a gift it is that I am physically able to run, I have the free time to run, I don't need to run out of fear, I can live in a place where I am allowed to run free of judgment or security concerns, I have clean water to drink and food to eat to sustain me, and I love to run. When I consider how many of the people of the world run because they have to, I am humbled that I can run. See? All from those three words :P
From BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6443109.stm)
I just ran about 10 miles from my house to my boyfriend's house (well, very near it). It was the first time I had run that route, and at the end of it I felt amazing! It's so freeing to realize that you don't actually NEED a car to get around. One of the things I love most about running is that it's so primal and minimalistic. All you need is a pair of shoes -- some people don't even need that. To know that you can embark on an adventure with just your own body is such a foreign concept these days. We've moved at warp speed from foot travel to wheel travel still powered by feet of some sort, wheel travel powered by engines, air travel, and wireless travel through the Internet. Call me old-fashioned, but I really like the prospect of retaining some of the old ways of living.
http://joshclark.me/2009/07/15/the-lion-and-gazelle/
Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, said, "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." Running is what humans and other animals do to survive. Some humans don't have to run to survive anymore, so they don't. But at what expense? With our savvy advances in transportation technology have also come greater emission of poisons into the atmosphere, greater use of non-renewable energy sources, less activity and diminished physical health, and greater detachment from the Earth and the natural processes that provide our sustenance through food, water, protection, and recreation.
I'm not against cars, airplanes, boats, or the Internet. If I was, I wouldn't be blogging right now. What I'm trying to say, out of residual runner's high from this evening's run, is that running reminds me of humans' curious place in this world as both:
(1) Insignificant beings within the vastness of the universe, large-scale natural processes all around us, and the supreme will of God that can be executed without our permission and beyond our control; and
(2) Complex beings who are capable of a tremendous amount of accomplishment and impact on other beings and our environment.
There are many people who were also born with a desire to run but can't. There are people who run because they must, perhaps for transportation or survival. What a gift it is that I am physically able to run, I have the free time to run, I don't need to run out of fear, I can live in a place where I am allowed to run free of judgment or security concerns, I have clean water to drink and food to eat to sustain me, and I love to run. When I consider how many of the people of the world run because they have to, I am humbled that I can run. See? All from those three words :P
http://whybegenerous.com/
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