Читать книгу Why I Run: The Remarkable Journey of the Ordinary Runner - Mark MDiv Sutcliffe - Страница 6

iRun for no particular reason Scott Moore, Ontario

Because it can give you an ache in your legs that you feel with every step, and you love it because you know you’ve earned it, because you’ve just done something hard.

Because it is hard.

Because you can take it anywhere, on business trips, on vacations, to the cottage.

Because you don’t have to book a court or make a date with a partner. You don’t need any equipment except your shoes.

Because it clears your head.

Because it makes you feel like you’re cheating the aging process.

Because you can use it to justify eating almost anything you want.

Because you can do it by yourself, with a friend, in small groups or large.

Because you can learn a new little technique and try it out and always hang on to the hope you can get a little bit better.

Because when there’s madness all around you and you’ve had an incredibly frustrating day, it can help you put everything back in perspective.

Because you don’t need to pay a membership fee or wait in line for a machine.

Because you can do it while you watch the sun going up or down.

Because you can do it before the sun comes up and feel like you’re ahead of the game.

Because you can do it after the sun goes down and taste the crisp night air and feel cool and warm at the same time.

Because you can set a goal and if you achieve it, it’s unequivocal, unambiguous, absolute and total and complete, unlike almost anything else in life.

Because it makes you go outside, on good days and bad, even in the winter, and you can do it in the rain or the wind or the snow or some combination of all of them and it makes you feel tough and hearty, which you never thought you were.

Because since you never pictured yourself training for three hours at a time, it shows there’s another level to you that you can get to if you go about it the right way.

Because it proves you aren’t hardwired at birth, that you can decide you’re going to be athletic or anything else, that who you are is completely up to you.

Because seeing other people doing it, the moms and middle-aged men, the kids, the seniors, all testing their limits, gives you inspiration.

Because even if you’re not really that fast, you have a competitive streak and this is something you can measure, and if you can just go a bit faster than last time, or someone else who looks like he’s in pretty good shape, that feels pretty good.

Because it makes you think about your breathing.

Because it makes you feel like you have something in common with world-class athletes, like you can understand what they’re going through; because even though you’ll never win anything, you know what it is to train for something.

Because no matter how much of a team player or mother or father or partner you want to be, there have to be some things that belong to you and nobody else.

Because no matter how little sense this makes to someone who’s never tried it, sometimes you have more energy after than before.

Because you can finish a race faster than you’ve ever done before and it doesn’t matter who’s ahead or behind, you beat the old you.

Because of that time your family came out holding a sign with your name on it and shouted cheers to you when you went past.

And especially because of those times when you stretch it out at the end, just take it up a little bit faster, feel the wind in your lungs, feel like you’re reaping all the training you’ve ever done, feel your heart pumping faster, your whole system operating at maximum capacity, the adrenaline flowing, making you feel alive, and you know that feeling’s going to stay with you for an hour after you stop.

That’s why I run.