OWL-DRAGON

Essentially simple, Infinitely intricate


I recently read an article with that title in one of those free papers given out at sports store. The article was about biking but I thought the author’s reflections applied equally to running. The author deliberately eschews the term “complex”; he believes that complex implies difficult whereas intricate gets better at the concept he wanted to conveys, namely that as he explored his sport he realized that it consists of never ending refinements and reflections.

I think many of us first started running as simple way to exercise. It is exercise and takes some effort, but it is not technically difficult. As I remember, my first runs entailed nothing more than stepping out the front door, running to the local track, and going four times around and running home. Wow, I thought what a work out. (Please don’t laugh – I hadn’t engaged in any serious exercise in years. I had ballooned up to over 220 pounds and yet didn’t feel particularly overweight.) I don’t even think I had “running” shoes but some kind of cross-trainer. I certainly didn’t purchase them in a specialty store and I certainly had done no research on what type of shoe.

I will skip over a large part of the story (my attendance at the FBI National Academy and working to get my yellow brick) but some time October 1997 I was coaxed into doing a local 5K. Just for fun. And although it was just a local 5K it had all the trappings of the many races I was to do over the next eight years. I really can’t remember what the attraction of racing was. The number, the shirt, the after race goodies all factor in but most importantly I was impressed by the camaraderie of the participants. I just remember I wanted to do another one and already I had formed the idea of doing a marathon to celebrate my 50th birthday. (The marathon turned out to be a few days before my 52nd). Again, looking back, I can’t remember why I wanted to run a marathon. I really wish I could remember what put that thought into my head. I had run three and now I wanted to run 26 – what insanity.

I still didn’t have proper gear. It was actually my wife who went to the Bryn Mawr Company and purchased for me my first “real” running clothes. But by then my essentially simple was turning into the infinitely intricate. For that essentially simple act of running out the door was being defined, crafted and honed. It was being defined by goals: faster times, longer distances. It was being crafted by tools: better shoes, better clothing, and watches. It was being honed by training. In the spring of 98 my wife saw an article about a runners’ seminar being offered by the Rothman Institute (part of Jefferson Hospital, it is a practice devoted to orthopedics and athletic injuries in particular. Philadelphia runners know them as the sponsor of the Rothman 8K, part of the Philly Marathon). This was a real turning point because I met Mike Patterson at that seminar. I would train with Mike until early 2002. I was now really exploring the intricacies of “my” sport. I began to think of speed, intervals, tempos and goals change from maybe to yes I will.

The journey isn’t over – few years ago I tried trail running and last spring I did my first ultramarathon. Now my library overflows with running books and magazines. A number of internet running sites are bookmarked. I participate in an online forum dedicated to running and I write about my writing experiences. The act itself remains essentially simple, but it continues to be infinitely intricate as I explore all the facets of being a runner.