The color guard hoists the American flag over the University Bridge on University Drive prior to the start of the P.F. Chang's Arizona Rock N' Roll Half Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. (Photo by Stefan Modrich)Running is typically something I do with the intent of clearing my head — oftentimes without much success — but it’s generally been an outlet for me to release negative energy and turn it into a productive workout.
When I ran in the P.F. Chang’s Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon, I couldn’t help but think about the state of running culture in the U.S. I was entertained by people who I passed (and some who passed me) and noticed I had a GoPro on top of my head throughout the 13.1 mile journey.
And to think that I wasn't even mad about the battery dying before I'd left the starting line! (OK, not entirely true) I did realize soon enough, however, that this race was bigger than whatever I would have captured on the five-pound piece of mental and plastic that I'd brought with me.
I tend to think being hyper-observant is a good quality (if there’s a version of specialized obsessive-compulsive disorder that only occurs while running, I must have it). But when your brain stops to analyze every sign that you pass by along checkpoints, even if it says, “Good luck Brian,” a joke about the ice-cold Michelob Ultra waiting at the finish line, or “I bet this seemed like a good idea four months ago," it can be mentally draining.
Sometimes, I’m reminded how much I, and thousands of others, enjoy the ability to just coast on two feet, and let your mind go on autopilot. I picked up distance running as early as seventh grade to keep active during the baseball offseason, and six years later, I’ve now run probably upward of 1,000 miles, including three half-marathons and dozens of 5Ks.
Video by Stefan Modrich | Sports Reporter
I’m well aware of the stigma associated with running, and general disinterest from the general public.
Outsiders typically view running as an elitist, country-club type sideshow, scoffing at their abilities (“It can’t be that hard, right?”) while some are even reluctant to consider it a sport.
The fact that runners are grouped from the “elites” and then placed in corrals according to previous times might support that theory even further.
Except it doesn’t. Rather, it ends up being the great equalizer, as plenty of people who start in the back end up surging to the front, and those who start in the front might establish a much too assertive pace and ultimately run out of fuel.
In my experience, especially in the three races I’ve run here in the Valley (the Y-Race on South Mountain and the two ‘Rock N’ Roll’ races) it’s unlike any other athletic endeavor of which I’ve been a part.
It seems among runners and their families (even the ones who question their sanity, at times) there’s a shared drive to push each other across a finish line, after months of intensive training it just so happens that the line in this case is physical, not metaphorical — but it’s the mentality to keep pushing that has inspired me to do my part, and run as often as I possibly can.
It didn’t matter if you were a soldier in uniform carrying a full bag of gear, or a firefighter wearing a 45-pound backpack and running to honor fallen emergency personnel, or a mother running eagerly into the arms of her children and husband past the finish line after finishing a grueling trek through the desert.
Video by Stefan Modrich | Sports Reporter
A commitment in running is not for the faint of heart, especially in its upper echelon, where runners vie for to qualify, or even place, in the sport’s pinnacle: the Boston Marathon.
It’s fair to assume that every American child isn’t growing up trying to become a world-class marathoner like Meb Keflezighi or Ryan Hall, because it’s probably much more glamorous to aspire to be Kevin Durant or Odell Beckham Jr.
In travel youth sports nowadays, promises of Division I college exposure at fancy tournaments with “scouts,” allures parents to spend thousands of dollars with all the right intention, of advancing their child’s interest.
All you need to run is a decent pair of shoes, (in some countries, optional) and the motivation to go and get lost for an hour, trusting that you’ll find your way back.
So this weekend, when you’re past the point of Netflix-binge exhaustion, or you’re swamped with homework, grab a pair of shoes, your fitness tracker/music source of choice, and go pound the pavement. Whether it's one mile, or 10, everyone has a chance to start and finish where they want, almost like life.
If you're particularly ambitious, you may even find yourself reciting an excerpt from Charles Hamilton Sorley’s British ballad, “The Song of the Ungirt Runners.”
The rain is on our lips,
We do not run for prize.
But the storm the water whips
And the wave howls to the skies.
The winds arise and strike it
And scatter it like sand,
And we run because we like it
Through the broad bright land.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or on Twitter @StefanJModrich
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