Sublime

Two thousand years ago, Philostratus presented a portrait of the ideal runner that borders on discrimination against those of us who are not ideal: To run well, one first needs to know how to stand upright. For the body to be in perfect proportion, the legs must be in line with the shoulders, the chest smaller than average and able to keep the stom

I describe the ideal of the running form you’ll soon be learning as “performance” because “form” is at the heart of the word. Without form, there’s no performance, full stop.

In less than a year, I’d traveled from quitting running to twentieth at nationals, then to sixth, and now, second among the Americans at worlds. It seemed as though when my mind talked, my body listened, opening me to progress. My plan was to keep making more.

being a lifelong runner means making friends with your own fragility.

“Running! If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.”

Joyce Carol Oates