Why we run......

Biologically, evolutionary, spiritually, physiologically......there's an argument for each as to why people run.

In the western world, some run to maintain a semblance of activity in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.  

Other continents and countries still see running as the primary mode of transport either because the infrastructure does not support vehicles OR the price of vehicles is prohibitive.

There are others who choose running as a form of spirituality...a path to enlightenment.  The most well documented of which are the Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei in Japan, who run distances of 52miles a day for 100 consecutive days.

There are those who run because they have to in order to survive....persistence hunters of the African plains, Australian bush and the few remaining true wildernesses on the planet. 

And there are those that run in order to compete, to be the best at one of the oldest of athletic measures that pre-dates Christ.  The 'Athletes'.

Finally, in my opinion, there are those that run 'just because they can' and for fun.  Amongst this group, the majority are (but not exclusively) below the age of 12 years old......

But amongst this hotch potch of categories there is a another group.  Those that run not towards but away from something.

For this group, fear is the motivation.  Fear of becoming trapped, of sliding into a place they don't want to be, of memories that they want to leave behind.  Its not something pulling them forward, its something pushing them further, harder and longer.

I run because I'm scared.  I'm scared of becoming what I once was and of losing the freedom that running has given me.....from constraints that couldn't be broken by a single act or being.

I don't care about times for specific distances, I don't care whether I place 1st or last in any events I may enter. 

I just care that I can run. Alone. With my thoughts. With my fears....compartmentalizing them and keeping them in check.  Making them manageable so that they are conquered by me, not conquering of me.

An old native American saying is 'Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins'.  But the truth is, never judge a man until you have walked the same path in the same shoes....because all journeys have a start point and no two paths are the same!

Therefore, in order to understand what drives a person, we need to know where they started, where they have walked and where they want to go....their direction and speed are not true indicators of what lies behind the visible indicators.