It has been said that runners have their best thoughts of the day while out running. Runner and writer
Michael Selman shares his
"Thoughts on Running" with us here at ontherunevents.com.
One of the most significant recent changes in my running has nothing to do
with speed, or distance, or frequency. I am probably changing more as a
person than I am as a runner, but I believe that running deserves much of
the credit for this change. I suddenly find myself running more miles with
other people than I ever have before. In my old age, I seem to be learning
to shed my self-proclaimed title of "running introvert" and am replacing
it with the title "social runner."
I have always known that runners make good friends. But after almost 20
years of running, I am suddenly realizing that running with strangers can
quickly make them good friends, and running with good friends can them
even better ones. I like running with other people. I like it a lot.
Monday through Friday, running is mine, alone. I arise well before dawn,
and, cloaked in Coolmax and solitude, I have only myself, and the moon for
company. I have become such a habitual morning runner that I seldom even
consider an evening run any more, if a morning is missed. Most often, if I
don't run before sunrise, I don't run that day. I enjoy the seclusion of
these cleansing runs. They help resolve issues of the previous day, and
provide ideas for the one I am about to face. This all takes place within
the confines of a special time slot, that 5:30 to 6:30 hour that I prefer
to use for my own personal reality, as others are dreaming. It is time I
need, and I need to spend it by myself.
Weekends used to be like that too. Without the aid of an alarm, I would
still hop out of bed at the 5 o'clock hour, and I'd often be finished with
my solo run before dawn broke and people woke. I had convinced myself that
running by myself, alone with my thoughts, was always the best choice for
running. But over the past couple of months, that is starting to change I
still run early on weekends, but I have started to step away from the
darkness and into the land of enlightenment.
Some weekend days, I race, and the application determines the time I run.
Other weekend days, I meet with a friend of mine at a predetermined
location and we run some miles while catching up on each other's lives.
Then there are those very special days when my wife and I run together. It
is a rare weekend day that finds me running alone, any more. And I always
feel better after having shared a run, and a part of myself, with another
person.
I am not a comfortable conversationalist. Put me in a business meeting,
and I would rather be anywhere else. Put me in the middle of someone
else's social function, and I'll look for the nearest corner to hide in.
It is not my desire to be antisocial, but mingling with strangers is not
where my comfort level lies. I never leave a function like this with a
newly acquired friend. I have been told I fake it quite well, but what
goes on inside is tough to explain, totally artificial, and definitely not
pretty.
Somehow, when I'm running with other people, all the evils go away. What I
am learning in the process is that running with another runner for the
first time is a great introduction to that person, and that running with a
friend always seems to solidify that friendship. The run itself seems to
break down walls of insecurity that the introvert fears, and lessens the
desire for the anonymity he craves. Running helps melt away the social
phobia that grips some of us. We may still feel awkward at a party full of
strangers, but when we find ourselves in a pack at the 2 mile mark of a
5K, there is easy conversation amid the hard breathing all around.
Some of the people I consider my friends are people I have met only once
or twice in my life. But when we met, we also ran. They are the people I
have met through my business travels, or through theirs, with
introductions through Internet running groups, or through initially
awkward conversations that quickly turned to running, and blossoming
rapport. There's Alister in Austin, Mike in Seattle, Greg in Dallas, and
Barb and Jerome in Spokane. Before I ran with any of them, we were
acquaintances. After the runs, the common bond that had developed during
the run had made us friends. I have not met any of them more than twice,
so far. That's the power of running with others.
Running alone has its place. In the weekday darkness and seclusion, I
refresh myself before the day even begins. It is through those quiet
weekday runs that most of my thoughts are born, to be transcribed later on
as time permits. Many of these thoughts are fleeting, and are soon lost,
only to resurface on another run. Others don't really seem so profound any
more by the time I'm ready to write about them, so I let them fall by the
way. And sometimes, I get it all written before the paint dries.
But running with others is becoming more and more important to me, and I
am discovering the value of forfeiting a minute per mile, and in exchange,
developing a new friendship, or further strengthening an existing one.
Lock me in a room with a person for two hours, with the task of building
rapport, and it will likely be a failing proposition, and will feel like
days before it's over. Let me take the same person on a run, and that same
two hours will go by in a flash, and when it's over, I wonder where the
time went.
The Roads Scholar, Michael Selman runs and writes in Atlanta GA. He
would love to hear from you. Please e-mail him at TheRoadsScholar@aol.com
with any questions or comments.
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