running: the dawn

This summer I spent some time at my parents’ house.  While there I found the box with all my memorabilia from high school and college.  Deep down in the box there was a scrap of paper where I had written out a passage about running that I had found in a magazine or something.  This was from the days long before I started running races or setting goals.

I have no idea who wrote this or really where I found it.  I’ve googled it, trying to give credit where credit is due…but I’ve never found it.  If you know the person who wrote this, please let me know!

Even now these words stir my heart and inspire my spirit.  I feel like this expresses feelings I could never find the words for.

“Why do I run? We know that the effects of training are temporary.  I cannot put fitness in the bank.  If inactive, I will detrain in even less time than it took me to get in shape.  And since my entire persona is influenced by my running program, I must be constantly in training.  So I run each day to preserve the self I attained the day before.  And coupled with this is the desire to secure the self yet to be…I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might become tomorrow.“