About three years, ago, I wrote a short creative nonfiction piece entitled, “On Running (and Running On)”. The piece was about how running got me through a very trying time and the integral role running has played in my life. An excerpt from that piece does a pretty good job of describing how running affects me:
I run up and down the inclines and declines and hop over puddles and feel the ache in my knee. I breathe hard and keep pace. I feel the cracks in the greenbelt and the branches that need trimmed off of the path. I feel sweat and thirst and fatigue. I feel the foot to shin to thigh connection with concrete, hard and lovely against my tennis shoes. …
People understand the nature of the runner. A runner needs to keep running. A runner needs to maintain her center.
Of course, like writing, running takes practice. It takes a good deal of stick-to-it-iveness. But it will give back so much more than you put into it.
Writers, I challenge you: Try running or some other form of aerobic activity. See how it affects your creative abilities, how it positively impacts your life. Or, find a better way to be totally focused, utterly creative, and wholly connected. And if you find a better way, let me know — I’d like to try it out.
(Disclaimer: This blog was written immediately after a nice, long run. Surprise, surprise.)
4 Comments