Art is the purest form of personal expression.
Art brings our thoughts, feelings and emotions to life. As George Bernard Shaw famously said, “You use a glass mirror to see your face, you use works of art to see your soul.” Art is a gateway to discovering meaning and significance.
As runners and athletes, we may not think of ourselves as artists, but we are. We simply search for meaning and significance down less traditional avenues. We’re not painting landscapes, sculpting statues or creating music. Our canvas is the track. The road. The trail. The mountain.
Art demands imaginative, innovative and technical skill born from human agency. Its production requires discipline, creativity and oftentimes pain. It evokes emotional responses from artists as well as observers.
Running is no different.
Running is elementary to the human experience.
Running connects us across the eons. We started running long before painting pictures on cave walls. Some studies suggest humans first started running two million years ago.
Two. Million. Years.
“We are very confident that strong selection for running — which came at the expense of the historical ability to live in trees — was instrumental in the origin of the modern human body form,” says Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah. “We think running is one of the most transforming events in human history.”
In other words, running encompasses everything it means to be human.
Our relationship with running is storied and deep. In 490 B.C,. the solider Pheidippides ran from the town of Marathon, Greece to Athens announcing the Persian defeat. Forrest Gump ran for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours because he felt like it. Millions of people run everyday to connect with their minds, bodies and souls.
Running is like oxygen. Necessary for life.
Running is beautiful
Watch Usain Bolt set the world record in the 200 meters at the 2009 World Championships. I get goosebumps every time. His energy and raw power is exhilarating. He puts the potential of humanity’s biomechanics on full display.
Runners have a particular appreciation for beauty, similar to how an impressionist painter appreciates his landscapes or how a classical pianist appreciates Beethoven or Bach or Mozart. It goes beyond the physical act of creation — it’s about the emotions that arise. It’s about how the art drives and motivates and inspires.
When we hit the trail at 6 am on a warm summer morning, we take in the sights and sounds of the forest, the light streaming through the trees, the damp smell of the foliage. We give thanks for another day on Earth. We count our lucky stars. We feel truly blessed to do what we love one more time.
Running teaches suffering
The tortured artist mythos has existed for centuries. “Great art comes from great pain,” notes Christopher Zara. Artists are always thought to be complicated characters, full of self-hatred, sexual frustrations and personality disorders while engaging in excessive substance abuse, maybe even suicide.
While certainly not true in every instance, figures like Van Gogh, Woolf, and Dostoyevsky come to mind.
Like most artists, runners put their entire selves into their work. We expend great emotional, physical and mental energy in our quest to master the craft. We sweat, ache and bleed in its pursuit. When we succeed, we weep with joy. When we fail, we’re inconsolable.
Running goes beyond the bounds
When I watch someone run, I see more than motion. More than bright shiny shoes. I see pain. I see commitment. I see determination, consistency and tenacity. I see success. I see failure. I see an individual hardened and improved and stable and stoic.
Running pushes the limits of human potential. It betters us physically, mentally and spiritually. It affords us deep introspection. It allows us to see who we really are, and if we have the strength and courage to make ourselves better.
Running is poetry in motion.
“Every run is a work of art.
A drawing on each day’s canvas.
Some runs are shouts, some runs are whispers.
Some runs are celebrations, some runs are eulogies.”
– Dagny Scott Barrios
Be strong, be safe, be well.
Scott Mayer is a runner, thinker, curious observer and certified personal trainer.
Photo courtesy of Nathalie Désirée Mottet on Unsplash