Fulfill your Running Potential

Run like an animal.

It’s a slogan, injected into popular running jargon by Pearl Izumi, which calls for careful unpacking. Perhaps the cavemen from those witty Geico commercials would be the first to object. But a deeper inspection may come to reveal why so many others actually swear by its living credo.

So what are we to make of this unconventional, old school, yet mostly revered mentality? Does running, by nature, entail sacrifice, pain, and a side order of pure guts? And if indeed we can agree that our paradigm is a noble one, how many modern-day plodders take seriously what Pheidippides took with him to the grave?
The point was driven home to me not too long ago on one of those casual encounters during a family barbecue. As the conversation somehow drifted towards weight loss, I posited that despite a lean runner’s frame, I could still benefit from being 15 pounds lighter. Instantly, it was as if the weirdo detection system was turned on inside the room as my non-runner friends surveyed me from head to toe in disbelief: “If you get any skinnier you’ll be anorexic,” one of them clamored. “Plus, runners are like pathetic little twigs, one push and they come tumbling down.” Now, of course, I wasn’t about to explain what raw athleticism lay disguised behind our deceptively frail outlines, nor could I hope to transmit the glorious sensation of beating thousands of eager runners to a coveted finish line tape. So, instead, it festers now as food for thought.

Needless to say, our sport is vastly misunderstood by the general public. But more recently, the hoards of newbies lacing up a pair of running shoes are falling dangerously off the mark as well. We are living, and running, during an age of mass participation in our sport. Despite a sagging economy, road race registration is showing no signs of decay. The number of people taking to the streets, including first-timers, is at an all-time high, reminiscent of the 1970’s fitness boom. As an outdoor enthusiast and strong advocate of cardiovascular health, the situation seems to me to be entirely fortuitous. After all, an active lifestyle can only help to reverse our current obesity epidemic, and may even provide an over-worked, over-stressed, generation with a positive and cathartic outlet for physical rejuvenation and social enrichment.

The unfortunate casualty in this great uproar of enthusiasm is the increasing acceptance of mediocre standards. Races, especially big city marathons where quantity trumps quality, have become more like rolling parades of block party runners. The caravan of Gallo walkers stretches impressively far back, with many an expeditionary expecting to cross the finish line in 5 hours plus. We’ve come a long way from the early 20th century when these same races were viewed as freak shows for eccentric types running a bit too fast for their own good.

To minimize the risk of being misinterpreted and labeled an elitist prick, allow me to make a few rational disclaimers. Running, pure and simple, is what we’re all born to do. McDougal, in his best-selling book “Born to Run” avowed just as much, hitting the nail right on its head. The fact that our bodies were engineered to run, going back to our most primitive ancestors, makes genetic and perhaps even intuitive sense. There’s something quite natural about the bandwagon phenomenon being perceived in our ranks, and God forbid I should say or do anything to discourage that magnificent trend. Let it ring from Mt. Sac to the Potomac that our sport is one “of the people” in the everyman, plebeian sense of the phrase.

But every once in a while, the guardians of sacred tradition must sound the trumpet call and motion us back to authenticity. Like prophets, our goal is to cure the deprivation of untapped potential, which has many a runner forfeiting the single greatest prize our craft provides. But what should the standard be? Olympic gold? Some arbitrary, universal benchmark, like the minutes and seconds on a stopwatch? Certainly not. The mark of excellence has more to do with a frame of mind than any measurable set of observations.

Run like an animal.

It means leaving everything out on the race course. Giving nothing less than your best. Striving, with maximal exertion, to beat your opponent or improve upon a previous condition. In other words, don’t be afraid to break a sweat, go for broke, or dig deep. That’s how you arrive at a truly rewarding and breakthrough performance in the first place. Best of all, you might even learn something valuable about yourself and what you never thought possible.

One of the things that attracted me as a young man in my late teens to the world of distance running was the sheer honesty of its output. I became part of a cultural legacy that our forefathers created with their own blood, sweat, and tears. Frank Shorter once responded to a reporter that the reason he ran so hard was because running fast was much more fun than running slow. Steve Prefontaine, the tragic hero of three decades ago and pioneer of this diehard, take no prisoners, sort of attitude once said: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” Heck, even a non-runner in the likes of poet and philosopher Ralf Waldo Emerson chimes in concurringly: “The only thing that matters is the integrity of our own minds.”

Granted, the path to self-transcendence is not for the timid of heart. And since none of us is likely aiming for smallness of spirit, we would do well to partake, and furthermore, to partake well. Contrary to the media’s bias, the lead pack is not where it’s at, for in every race there’s a contest within a contest, invested with just as much soul-piercing drama.

So my fellow American runners, ask not what running can do for you, ask what you can bring to the startling line.

Or else, we’ll have to stop calling ourselves weekend warriors and be forced to adopt the much less flattering title of weekend push-overs.