Why I run

Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run under four minutes in the mile, once said, "We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves....The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom.  No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.'  The human spirit is indomitable."

Like most runners, I have been questioned about why I run.  I have tried to craft the perfect answer, but I think Bannister does a pretty good job of explaining for me: I enjoy it and I cannot help myself.   

There are a million reasons to run.  Fitness, competition, and camaraderie are all good side benefits. But if I only ran for these reasons, I would have a hard time running when running gets hard.  My real motivation is actually quite simple.  I run for the joy of movement, for the joy of feeling my body working in coordinated effort and the vigor of breathing deeply, stretching muscles, and rapidly covering ground. I run to reclaim the freedom experienced when running barefoot through the grass as a kid, playing tag, chasing, and moving without inhibition.  I run for the freedom of running away and being carefree and limitless.  I run for the raw exhilaration to be found in the first day of spring, when you can finally shed the winter layers and feel dry pavement underneath your feet.   I run because somewhere in my DNA, I was born to run.  And, as crazy as it sounds, I enjoy it.