THE TRUTH ABOUT RUNNING
More often than it used to, the question of why do I run crops up. Mostly it is asked by someone other than myself and it is usually asked in an inquisitive rather than accusatory tone. Usually.
It seems that if you look a certain age you have to justify to others who look that same certain age why you spend much of your time running and in most cases they don’t.
Perhaps it is driven by guilt on the part of the questioner – a kind of resentment that you haven’t hoisted the white flag to age and decrepitude and taken up crochet or Mah-jong.
“Physical and mental health maintenance, enjoyment, routine, need, desire, passion... they are all part of the answer.”
In some cases it could be because people are genuinely intrigued that you spend your spare time doing something that has earned an undeserved and ill-informed reputation as being potentially negative for your general well-being once you reach that certain age.
And probably, to be fair, some people are just trying to make small talk. But because I have been asked regularly in the last 18 months I have spent an unusually long time thinking about that question.
I haven’t become particularly articulate at giving my answer. I haven’t developed a neat, compact spiel that I
