Running

There's a new book out called "Born To Run". It's one man's take on our bodies, the complexity of feet, lung-capacity, endurance, and all things running. He traveled to South America while researching, and visited with a very private and primitive culture that's been known to run up to 100 miles without stopping (evidently they just pee on the go!) He claims our feet and bodies are tougher than we ever thought they were, and that our timidity in pushing our bodies has more to do with fear and "wussy-ness" than it does with actual science.

Let me just say I think I just might love this man!

To me, running represents a myriad of things, all important and crucial to my life. First, it's the exercise that keeps me in good cardio-vascular shape. My 46-year-old body just had a full physical, and the doctor remarked on my good blood-pressure and 58 bpm heart rate (she also got on me for being about 10 pounds overweight!) Jogging keeps me healthy, strong and fit.

Next, it's the mental de-stressing time of my day. It takes a middle-aged guy who's ragged with worry and transports him to a place where the noise of a distant dog barking, his feet on the pavement, his steady breath, and a rustling wind are the only noises around. It "decompresses" me and refreshes my mind to do what life tells me has to be done.

Most of my best artistic ideas come while I'm pounding the pavement. Original song ideas and lyrics often take root on a shady trail. Shows get designed, formations blocked, and dance breaks take wing. A pair of shorts, a baseball cap, sunglasses and an Under Armor top often serve as the palette on which I paint whatever art I'm responsible for.

Youth. Silly, maybe, but true. Running reminds me my body can still respond when called upon to get busy and work hard. I can't run as fast as I used to, dance like I used to,jump as high or lift as much,......but I can start running and not stop for 10 miles. It might be a tortoise shuffling along in a field of hares, but the tortoise still pocesses the ability to just keep going.

Appreciation of God's gifts. In the past month, I've run in Dublin's Phoenix Park, along the shores of Lough Corrib, on the banks of the River Liffey, in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, on the beach of the Pacific Ocean, and on a trail that winds along the Rio Grande River in Albuquerque. I've also run on a nature trail in Cedar Rapids, a nature preserve in Chicago's suburbs and by soccer fields near my home. What do all these places have in common? God created them for me and countless others to enjoy. Running reminds me of this undeniable reality, and makes me ever grateful.

So as I lace up my shoes and straighten my ever-stiffening body for another foray into New Mexico's August summer, I give thanks for running. For the 14,000+ miles I've run since the year 2000 (yes, I track every single mile), I give thanks. For the thousands of miles yet to come, I give thanks. For my wife, who can barely run because of a bad back, but still manages to get out with me a few times a year, I give thanks. For my dogs, that accompany me on many winter runs, I give thanks. For the health that allows me to just keep plugging along, I give thanks.

For the pure, endorphin-boosting pleasure of it all, I give thanks.