It took the incredible, inspiring and at times hard-to-believe book penned by Chris McDouggal, "Born to Run" for me to get closer to the "zone" that all sportspeople yearn for. Yesterday, in my 18 K run comprising 4 loops of Cubbon Park, I experienced one of those magical running moments when you are gliding along and suddenly break into a wide teeth baring grin. This kind of euphoria comes about through a combination of endorphins and sights and sounds you witness as you are running. As I broke right with the beautiful red central library behind me, on the road heading towards VM road, the sun had just risen above the tree canopy and spotlights of the sun were falling on the road below me with a thin mist hovering in the air. It was an incredible sight...a photograph to render meaningless a thousand words. It was then that I was almost overcome with joy and delight...I wanted to shout out, scream aloud that "look! this is what it's all about...! this is what we are made for!". I didn't of course as I had another 6 K to go and wanted to conserve my breath. But it was this moment which made me reawaken to the joy of running. And having recently read "born to run", it has become more obvious why I experienced this kind of euphoria.
I am convinced beyond all doubt that homo sapiens' engineering and evolution is wired and geared completely to moving at times swiftly on our feet. Of this there can be no doubt. We began walking around as homo sapiens around 200 THOUSAND years ago. We have changed very little since. Our primary mode of transport today overland consists of wheeled transport. But wait a minute...the wheel, most archaeologists agree was invented only about 10 thousand years ago at best. So how on earth did we get around for over 190 thousand years? We have remained absolutely unchanged in our physical and bodily make up for about 200 thousand years. We must have walked...and run when we had to. Run to find food, run to escape death. Walked and run. And therein lies the secret or well...the fact which isn't such a big secret after all. If we walked and ran for 190 thousand years to get around, then surely we have a very ingrained and instinctive edge when it comes to walking and running. I can quote many examples of medical research which tell us how homo sapiens are in many ways the perfect running machines. Sure we aren't fast but we can go on and on and on. No other land mammal can match us for endurance. It's obvious that running is the purest form of activity for our species.
In light of these facts, that 1000 MW jolt of ecstasy I experienced yesterday as the morning sun broke through the tree canopy comes as no surprise. One more recent finding based on experience: for all those thousands of years we ran and moved around in trees and mud paths and woods, amidst rain and sun and birds and natural smells and noises. Trail running gives you all of that in one wallop of evolutionary redux. Run on a track or on the road or in a park and you feel good. Run on trails amidst trees and morning birds and mist and mud and slush and frogs and suddenly it seems more natural...than anything you've ever done. That in fact is the truism right there.
We were never meant to drive around or sit and type on computers or eat processed foods and watch TV. We were and are meant to be active and constantly using our feet, mind and body. There are so many threads that can be traced from this very fundamental instinct to run and be active that it would take me many more hours to articulate. Succinctly, if we are true to who we are i.e.: homo sapiens, then in order that we don't deny our very existence we should run or walk or be active constantly. In order for us to do this, we will need to eschew and unlearn all the rubbish that "progress" has foisted upon an unsuspecting species. The saying "too clever for your own good" is one of the most deliciously ironic statements that can be made about us. We don't walk. We don't eat what we're engineered to. We don't even exercise our humongous brains in the way we can, choosing instead to succumb to "progress".
A question many runners are asked is what drives them. What is it that is so addictive about waking up at 4 AM on Sunday morning and running 20 Km in rain and slush and mud or on hot tarmac, experiencing pain and more pain? Our brains immediately tell us that such activities are foolish. This is the humans of the last 200 or 300 years talking. A mere sneeze in the evolutionary journey of homo sapiens. But it’s a fair question: the only reason it’s so addictive is because it’s also the most natural thing your body has been made to do. Kerouac touches upon similar experiences in "The Dharma Bums", when he describes the purity of ecstasy in being amidst the mountains and trees and grass and of physical labour and simple foods.
The choice is ours. Being happy is really easy...being happy is to not deny who you are. Sure we are complex beings and happiness differs for each of us...that is an evolutionary gift or curse. But there is a more fundamental happiness waiting for each of us and it's so easy to access that it's no surprise we have contrived and strived for so long to bury that source deeper and deeper with our jobs and TVs and cars and parties and gadgets.
Don't deny who you are...run.
