Day 5: Just over a mile outside as the sun came up.
Katie's starting a streak of her own and it's been fun to run alongside her and coach her though most of the time she doesn't want to hear my thoughts or encouraging words. If looks could kill I would have been dead on day 4. I'm reminded of my parents saying "You may hate me now but someday you'll thank me."
Which brings me to my thought for the day: When and why does running take on this negative side? As kids we love running and adults have to tell us over and over again to walk--at the mall, in the hallways at school, through the aisles at the grocery store-- and we have such trouble slowing down. At some point between third and twelfth grade we lose the mental freedom to take off running for no reason. We stop racing our friends from one point to another just because. Running becomes a chore, one of many tortuous things to be done in order to stay fit and healthy.
I think it all starts with the timed mile run in Phys. Ed. The "test" separates each class into losers and winners without ever naming them as such. But the kids know that those who finish first are somehow inherently better than those that finish last. Running becomes just another way in which we are different and the stripping of joy begins.
I wasn't the fastest runner in elementary school but I wasn't the slowest either. I was squarely in the middle and I was, for the most part, comfortable in my spot. So comfortable in fact, that I stayed there through middle school, high school and most of college before I decided I was capable of more. If the stigma of the "mile run" didn't exist, would I have enjoyed that many more years of running untethered to emotional and mental baggage? Probably not because myriad other factors--diet, activity level, interests--contribute just as much. But I still have negative feelings about running a mile. A 5k? No problem! Two miles? No problem! But a mile? That still causes me to feel sick to my stomach, like I'm about to speak in front of 1,000 people for the first time. I'd love to hear if anyone else has the same feeling.
At this point I must confess, I've not read Born to Run, and I know it's essential reading regarding the issues about which I'm ranting. Thankfully I've had enough friends converted by the book to understand the basics: We lost the joy of running and the freedom of moving through our environments unencumbered and now it's time to get back to our roots. I'm adding it to my list. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow a copy soon.
Which brings me to my second thought for the day: Why do we need a book to tell us what we lost?
For me this journey allows me to reconnect to the creek jumping, trouble getting, barefoot-in-the-summer kid I was until I got distracted.
See you tomorrow...
Ryan
In my evolutionary psychology class, we talked about how man may have been created particularly for long distance running (for example, we perspire instead of panting like a dog, which requires almost all mammals to stop and catch their breath) because of hunting. People in rural Africa still celebrate this tradition and are experts in tracking and performing long distance hunts where the hunters eventually run an animal to death. I found your blog interesting because man has almost always been a runner, and, not until several hundred perhaps thousands of years ago, it became improper for man to run all the time. Maybe transportation ended the running trends of our ancestors. Just an idea. But I think kids stop running because at a certain age they decide, not sure if this is a real decision but it is most likely a heavily influenced choice, that they do not want to be kids anymore, and it is the proper and civilized action of walking that is one mannerism that allows them to feel more mature like their parents or whomever they adore. It is a societal norm for us not to run, but to walk. -Luke Gill
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Luke. Was your professor Joe Lowman by any chance?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that walking is seen as more civilized than running. I guess the point I was working towards with my post revolves around the idea that it would be great if we could change the notion of civilized behavior. In short, I wish we could all go back to being kids again.