The Evolution of Runners

One of the great sports writers of the twentieth century, Dr George Sheehan, suggested that every runner evolves through three stages: [i]

• first, joggers take up exercise to lose weight and get more fit; they obsess about their weight; and often evangelise to their friends and colleagues about the physical benefits of running;
• then one day the jogger enters a race, and attention shifts.  Racers concentrate on improving their performance, beating their personal bests, and competing.  The mental effort of racing improves the mind, just as jogging improves the body.
• and finally, the racer may become a runner, who enjoys the physical benefits of running, and continues to value fitness.  Runners take part in races, and try to be the best they can, but they no longer expect every race to be a personal best. They run to find peace of mind.

Jogging, they say, is competing against yourself. Racing is competing against others.  Running is discovering that competing is only competing. It is essential and not essential.  It is important and unimportant.  Running is finally seeing everything in perspective.  Running is discovering the wholeness, the unity that everyone seeks.  Running is the fusion of body, mind, and soul in that beautiful relaxation that joggers and racers find so difficult to achieve.

George Sheehan, Running to Win, 1992

Of course, in real life there is something of all of George Sheehan’s three stages in every runner.  But there is a perceptible progression of most runners through these different phases.

The last stage – the runner – is the most difficult to describe to those who have not experienced it first-hand. Running can bring a kind inner strength and self-confidence.  The effect of this can be witnessed in any gathering of runners – for example, at a running club, or at a local road race.  There you will meet a group of people who have an unusual mixture of qualities: a sense of self-worth, without being arrogant or self-centred; equally comfortable in a large group of people or their own company; willing to face up to challenges; and an understanding that, whatever we do in our lives, real satisfaction comes when we know that we have been the best that we can be.

For women, in particular, running can be strongly empowering. Some women can feel under enormous pressure from society to conform to unachievable (and unhealthy) standards of physical appearance and weight, which can sometimes lead to eating disorders and depression.  Running can liberate women from the tyranny of dieting and eating anxieties, and create an self-esteem that helps them to take control of their lives.

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[i] George Sheehan, Running to Win, Rodale Press, 1992