Why I keep running (what remains after a run)

In the previous posts I have described running as, more or less, a habit: something ordinary, sometimes uninspiring, often repeated without much thought. For the busy, tired runners this blog is addressed to, this is to a large extent true. But it does not fully explain why one continues to do it. Habit alone feels insufficient as an answer. There must be something that remains after the run, something that is not entirely captured in the act itself.

For me, what remains is a sense of continuity. Running is one of the few things that has stayed with me over the years. By going for yet another run, however common it may be, a thread that started more than 15 years ago continues. It connects the present version of myself with someone who first started running back then. The circumstances have changed, the reasons have shifted, but the act itself is still there. It brings back a memory of where I was and how I started 15 years ago: a habitual smoker, out of shape, a guy who was never into any kind of physical activity. That version of myself feels distant now, but not entirely gone (I returned to that version for a brief period – but that’s a topic for a next post).

There is also a quiet awareness of improvement. Not necessarily in a precisely measurable way, but in the simple recognition that I can do things now that I could not do when I first started. I am faster than I used to be, even if I am now older. My baseline for what counts as a run has shifted, both in terms of distance and in terms of time. That, too, is part of what remains.

This may not be the case for everyone. What remains after a run is not necessarily the same for everyone. But it is rarely just the run itself. There is often something that persists beyond it and accumulates over time, even if it is not always clearly articulated.

Perhaps this is why running continues. Not because of what happens during the run, but because of what remains after it. That something is not immediately visible, but gradually builds over time.

Running ends. Something remains.