I’ve been asking around for the past week or two: Why do you run?  Since I’m the one asking there are bound to be some wise answers, but there is a grain of truth in those, too.  I’ll group similar things together so this doesn’t take forever.

To get away from my spouse/child/family:  Obviously this was said in a joking manner (if they weren’t then I’m not qualified to address it), but there is truth to it.  There are times when we are too involved in what is happening in the lives of our nearest and dearest.  We have no perspective about what is happening to them, between us or just the world in general.  If you stay in the house/apartment/mansion, you can’t get that separation you need.  So take that hour to be by yourself, an individual not part of a unit.

To have time to think:  This is just a more generalized version of the prior answer.  Something always needs our attention.  The phone rings, the text dings, the neighbor wants your recipe.  The blessed silence of a run can be revitalizing.  The only thing that matters is to keep moving.  You don’t have to be fast, just keep going.  If  someone wants your attention, they have to be fast enough to keep up with you andthey have to want to keep up with you.

To see things differently:  This one sounds absurd, but it is literally true.  When you are running you notice different things.  You may have driven down that street hundreds of times, but you never noticed that little garden behind the front wall of the house.  You were going too fast.  You may have walked down a different street a hundred times, but never noticed that all the houses have the same shape.  You were going too slow.

To feel better, look better, be better: This one shows up over and over again.  Someone decides that they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.  They need to make a change and it’s too expensive to get that Italian villa with the winery out back and the gorgeous local that is besotted with you*.  So they make one change:  I’m going to run around the block tonight.  It may start there, but it escalates.

Because I can:  This is my reason and the reason for a lot of other people to.  It is an affirmation.  MS/cancer/divorce/awful thing won’t stop me.  You think you can stop me?  You’re wrong. because today I will run.  I may not run far.  I may not run fast…but I will run…and tomorrow I will do it again…I might find someone to run with or I might do it by myself…but I will do it…because I can.

*erm…that might just be me.