Sunday, August 25, 2013

'Why This Compulsion To Run Long Distances?' A Runner's Beautiful Confession

There is a pretty imaginative cartoon  at this link that reminds me of one of my friends who is a devoted cyclist--He notes that "The Great Thing about Pain is that it Brings You into the Moment--nothing else matters...
Uvealblues

Runners often ask themselves, "Why am I doing this? Why do I want to make myself hurt so? What's this compulsion to run?"
The Bushman is telegraphing the most obvious answer: You beat your demons. You overcome yourself; that feels good.
Here's another answer, to my mind just as beautiful, and less than obvious. It comes from artist/cartoonist/essayist Matt Inman who writes a strip called The Oatmeal. This is the final chapter of his newest essay, one that he calls "The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances."
You should scroll through the previous five sections if you like, but as this part begins, Matt (a former fatty who's convinced his fat's coming back) has been running for hours on a horribly hot day inJapan. Close to exhaustion, trailed by ferocious hornets, he happens upon a vending machine, sucks down a purple sugary drink, is magically revivified, and now is about to finish his run ...

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