[NON BLOG] Running
Sep. 25th, 2005 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe other day, I worked myself up into a long-legged sprint as I advanced towards the bus stop, hidden from view by the corner of the grocery store. As I ran, I passed a man out walking his dog, a great big Labrador. When I got to the bus stop, nothing was there--either the bus had just departed or it hadn't been there at all.
As he passed me, the man fixed me with an unsettling star and asked me a question. "Why are you going to run when you're going to have to wait longer?" He wasn't satisfied with my "Because it's fun" and went on his way. After a moment, I realized that I wasn't, either.
Perhaps it was the effort that did it, the physical sensation of knowing that I had done everything that I could do. This effort feeds nicely into self-justification. ("I'm sorry I'm late for work, but I just missed the bus," perhaps with appropriate sweat stains under arm pits and a bedragged look.) Perhaps it was the adrenaline, the feeling of my heart pounding loudly in my chest and the pleasant sensation of exercised muscles relaxing.
As it happened, a bus came just a minute later.
As he passed me, the man fixed me with an unsettling star and asked me a question. "Why are you going to run when you're going to have to wait longer?" He wasn't satisfied with my "Because it's fun" and went on his way. After a moment, I realized that I wasn't, either.
Perhaps it was the effort that did it, the physical sensation of knowing that I had done everything that I could do. This effort feeds nicely into self-justification. ("I'm sorry I'm late for work, but I just missed the bus," perhaps with appropriate sweat stains under arm pits and a bedragged look.) Perhaps it was the adrenaline, the feeling of my heart pounding loudly in my chest and the pleasant sensation of exercised muscles relaxing.
As it happened, a bus came just a minute later.
