A Runner Is A Miser

2016 Stumptown Twilight | photo © kevmofoto.com

In his book, Endure, author Alex Hutchinson writes, 

“A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke at precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.”

However, it is important to remember a miser may not be miserable. 

In the case of the runner, they are, in fact, brilliantly alive.

Endeavoring to exhaust one's energy on their purposeful practice is precisely the mark of an energetic and fully present person. 

Hutchinson reminds, "In a wide variety of human activity, achievement is not possible without discomfort.” 

And it is the comfortable man who we should pity, trapped in a purgatory of stasis. 

Poet Jack London knew this to be true when he succinctly proclaimed in 1916, "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

And by spending our pennies of energy in such a way isn't miserable in the least.

Thanks for reading. I'm glad you're here. // jm