“Running with the pack”

This book is not actually about “running”. It is hard to put a finger on what it is about. Yes, the writer has a running habit and claims to enjoying it, but be warned, there are no marathon training plans in this book. Is is more about, true to its tagline, “meaning and mortality. Some parts are downright depressing so I would not recommend it to cheer up your vacation but I still wanted to write about it because of two ideas I’ve come across in this book.

One idea is downright depressing but relevant. The second idea is perhaps the best articulation of why I run.

Let’s start with the depressing one. Especially for those of us who seek “meaning” through our sport. The writer tells us that “under the gaze of eternity”, nothing really matters. All your racing times, the perfection some of us are striving for and the happiness you chase does not really matter, because, given enough time, everything will be forgotten. Orhan Pamuk wrote somewhere that all his works will not be read anymore, say, 300 years later. Even if you break 2 hour marathon record today, given enough time, it will be forgotten, unimportant and meaningless. I also remember Dean Karnazes saying that his biggest fear is perhaps being “irrelevant”.

If you can live with this idea, it frees you from your daily troubles. It is not the end of the world if you spend three months away from running, because, given enough time, this will not be relevant either. So cheer up. Don’t worry. Ultimately, nothing is important.

Have a look at below. Death, worms and end. Indeed very depressing.

The refreshing idea, (yes, there is one) prevalent throughout the text, is running does not need to serve a purpose. Running does’t have to make slim, turn you into a better looking individual, lower your LDL or add years to your life. Running does not simply need to be good for anything. And you don’t need to run because this will make you a healthier or better person.

You are also better off without a ‘running philosophy”.

You just need to like running. You should not run because it is useful. You would not enjoy. That is the mentality why most people eat cabbage.

Ask yourself this question: Would you still run a 50 K trail race if you knew for certain that it would hurt you? Would you keep running day in day out if you knew that your knees has a limit of 3,343 miles left before they let you down for good? I think I would. I would run that final race and I would enjoy all of my remaining 3,343 miles, just like I enjoy ice cream. Voicing that idea, I think, makes this a very good book.

The link for the book on Goodreads.