To the many writers who do not find inspiration in running, I ask you:
When else can you be so totally and completely disconnected from the mundane of the day-to-day? When else can you leave behind your cell phone and computer, the compulsion to check e-mails and social networking sites, and the need to make small talk? When else is it totally acceptable to ignore everyone and everything around you (except cars, of course)?
About three years, ago, I wrote a short creative nonfiction piece entitled, "On Running (and Running On)". The piece was about how running got me through a very trying time and the integral role running has played in my life. An excerpt from that piece does a pretty good job of describing how running affects me:
I run up and down the inclines and declines and hop over puddles and feel the ache in my knee. I breathe hard and keep pace. I feel the cracks in the greenbelt and the branches that need trimmed off of the path. I feel sweat and thirst and fatigue. I feel the foot to shin to thigh connection with concrete, hard and lovely against my tennis shoes. ...
People understand the nature of the runner. A runner needs to keep running. A runner needs to maintain her center.
I feel the same way about writing: it helps me keep centered. But I know that a lot of my writing inspiration occurs during long runs.
Of course, like writing, running takes practice. It takes a good deal of stick-to-it-iveness. But it will give back so much more than you put into it.
Writers, I challenge you: try running or some other form of aerobic activity. See how it affects your creative abilities, how it positively impacts your life. Or, find a better way to be totally focused, utterly creative, and wholly connected. And if you find a better way, let me know -- I'd like to try it out.
{Sidenote: This blog was written immediately after a nice, long run. Surprise, surprise.}