“More than the running, it’s the thought of the sights that I will see on the way and the novelty of running in a new place that is alluring.It’s also a terribly flawed notion — running and taking in the sights at the same time.”
“Move fast and break things” — Mark Zuckerberg, during the early days of Facebook
On my wishlist is running the New York, Boston, Mumbai, and the Amsterdam marathons.
More than the running, it’s the thought of the sights that I will see on the way and the novelty of running in a new place that is alluring.
It’s also a terribly flawed notion — running and taking in the sights at the same time. Let me explain.
A couple of years back, I ran a 10 k in a different city. Truth be told, I didn’t really enjoy the experience.
Traffic wasn’t fully blocked so runners were stopped to make way for traffic in certain places. A few roads were narrow, making running cumbersome. People were stopping everywhere and taking selfies, breaking my rhythm. I don’t even remember the areas I ran through, just that I wanted it to get over.
I learned my lesson — running and sightseeing don’t go hand-in-hand.
Recently, I took my nephew for a 5k walk/race. Here, the intent wasn’t to see how fast we could finish but rather, complete 5k in a reasonable time. People were strolling and taking photos, and all of it was okay. The whole idea was to enjoy the experience, not make a run for it to the finish line.
Marathon organizers take lovely photos of people running on mountains, lovely trails, and past historic monuments in their promotional material. But the runner seldom has time to appreciate the sights. Their aim is to make it to the finish line, not go sightseeing. We assume that bands and sportspersons who travel a lot have seen the world. Truth is, because of their schedules, many of them have just seen the inside of many hotel rooms in various countries.
Life sometimes requires us to run/sprint. It can be a project, a new business we are starting, a new position with bigger responsibilities, a new member of the family. You can’t do any of those and still have a vibrant social life, and be the life of every party, and have a successful side-project, and be updated on all the latest series on Netflix. Just like you can’t truly enjoy the sights while running, the same applies to life as well.
A few things to keep in mind when it comes to running:
a) You can’t run all the time, your body will collapse. Even if you work in a so-called fast-paced and highly driven place where speed, you can’t sprint for eight or 12 or 18 hours a day. Running around in circles, creating artificial emergencies to feel important seldom accomplishes anything of significant value.
b) Don’t leave a trail of destruction after your run. One of the major issues in organizing marathons is clearing the litter after the race is over. In a bid to get to the finish line, runners strew water cups, fruit peels, and biscuit covers all over the roads instead of exercising a little more patience and dropping off the waste in any of the numerous litter bins. In a similar vein, leaving a trail of fractured relationships, unkept promises, and needless angst and vitriol in your wake is pointless.
When Facebook was still a non-entity functioning out of a dorm room, its founder Mark Zuckerberg had remarked that the way to experience stratospheric growth was to ‘move fast and break things’. It worked, but only for a little while. Last year, he was called to testify in front of the US Congress regarding accusations of data breaches and inaction over concerns of Russian meddling during the 2016 American elections. The tech industry’s unregulated growth has caused a few Presidential candidates to make shaking up big tech a part of their poll promise.
So much for moving fast and breaking things.
If you’re in the middle of a run, don’t complain about what you are missing.
If you want to enjoy the sights while you run, not minding if you reach the finish line a little later, choose your race accordingly.
