Day 169 - Runners

I saw a lot of people running today.

By far the biggest collection was at The Duke's track meet. He ran great, and he had fun, despite the melt-your-racing-flats heat.

Earlier, over lunch, I went karting with some co-workers. There I saw the starter guy who was trying to help a driver whose kart was facing the wrong way, run, quickly, out of the way of approaching karts, and another worker running across the lobby, down the stairs, and onto the track, waving his black flag like a light-saber, demanding the offend drivers heed the caution speed limit.

These guys ran. Very short distances. I don't think they enjoyed it. But they did run, nonetheless. Instinctively they broke into "flight" mode. I bet if you asked them if they ran today, they'd laugh "What? Me? Of course not."

I also saw a young boy run this afternoon, chasing his dog, and getting smoked. He's yet to learn that chasing a dog is, to the dog, a game of tag, that the dog always wins. Still, he was running as naturally as any Kenyan. And he, also, hadn't plan to run. He didn't think about it for a second. His dog got loose. He ran after the dog. Instincts kicked in.

The most entertaining runners were the, um... let's say "rotund" couple, chick in front of dude, running down the sidewalk, Meijer bags in each hand, hoping to beat the rain storm to their front door. They had to decide to run. And I'm guessing neither of them run very often. But they ran tonight. No idea if they made it to their door, they were still running when we drove out of sight. I'm going to assume they did. And I'm going to assume they were gasping, and smiling, and laughing, and if not saying, at least thinking, "That was actually kinda fun."

Point is, we are all runners. We were born into a long line of runners, people who ran to hunt, to communicate, to survive. We ran as kids, just as every human has, forever. Every single one of us. And when we need to, or want to, we can still run.

That means that you, yes you, are a runner. You may have just forgotten.

Good running,
Doug

Numbers: 2 miles squeezed into a busy day.