February 2012

[Sweder]

I'd also say running allows one of the few opportunties to achieve measurable success in life. In our many roles, as husbands, friends, fathers, employees or whatever it's sometimes difficult to feel this. These roles stretch out into the distance, often with few waymarkers or visible dashboards.

I somehow managed to miss this. It happens when you reply on failing eyesight and a tiny smartphone screen to catch up with RC posts. I completely agree - so much of life is immeasurable. Running affords us the luxury of measurement, of the definitive comparison of one run against another.

You're right about the brain space too. Mine gets terribly cluttered almost daily. A plod, however well executed or otherwise, allows troublesome subjects to bob to the surface of my churning consciousness, picked out in the spotlight of my mind's eye. By the end of a run I've usually decided something, made a decision previously ducked or realised there's something I can do about some apparently unsurmountable challenge.

For that reason alone I'll still be out there shuffling, wide eyed, drool trailing on the breeze, long after my legs refuse to race.