I am always impressed by people who tell me they think deeply and meditate on their daily runs. Me, all I can think about, most of the time, is that my knee hurts or that each breathe is now all-consumingly interesting. There are however moments where it can something in the local envuronment catches my attention and even becomes luminous, making a reward of the entire experience. Recently it was a woodpecker on a wooded trail, whose taptaptapping behind me arrested me in mid stride.
Kathryn Schulz in the New Yorker offers a fascinating essay, inspired by last weekend`s New York Marathon, on the subject of thinking and running. I'm pleased to know that other runners are not especially reflective - I find that comforting.
I`m especially indebted to Schulz for her min-review of Thomas Gardner`s non-fiction book on running, Poverty Creek Journal: Lyric Essays. It`s definitely going on my reading list. The publisher, Tupelo Press, offers a free Reader`s Companion in .PDF format which looks amazing - the briefest glance at it makes me want this book all the more.
Maybe reading it will help me enjoy running again. So I`m off for a run as soon as I post this. I may even think.
Blessings,
MP+
1 comment:
When I was in my 30's and 40' I became a fun runner and I even managed to run the marathon 3 times.
You may already know that running a marathon is easy if you have done all the preparation work. It is the preparation work that is the hard bit.
I did find that singing a repetitive song to myself while pounding out the miles helped me along. I used to add variety by composing new verses inspired by things I passed on the way.
Whenever I did time trials following a better runner I used to say to myself that I am going to stuff his well meant advice down his throat if only I could just catch up with him. I never caught him but I did improve my times.
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