Musafir's Musings

Why We Run

"For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to rain and look to the day when it all is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight. For them, sport is not a test but a therapy, not a trial but a reward, not a question but an answer."
---Dr. George Sheehan (1918-1993) Runner, Author, Philosopher, Cardiologist

That says it all for those of us who do not run to lose weight or because it is good for health. We run because we found something that would be difficult, almost impossible,for a non-runner to understand. As the late, great Fats Waller said about jazz: "if you hafta ask, you ain't never gonna know!"

Never much of a sprinter I got into distance running almost by accident--while giving the family dog his work out. It felt good and I got hooked. That was almost 30 years ago.


In a Marathon from SFO Ferry Building to Larkspur Ferry Terminal

I have run marathons, the Dipsea (Over Mount Tamalpais from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach), the Double Dipsea (from Stinson Beach to Mill Valley and back), and countless miles over local roads and trails in the foothills. Always carried my running gear on business trips. Have run in HongKong and Bangkok; Singapore and Taipei; Bombay, Madras and Colombo; London and Paris. I run in summer and in the cold and wet winter months. On some days it takes an effort to gear up and go out but I always return from a run feeling better in body and spirits than when I went out. Perhaps it is the release of endorphin. The reason why it feels good is not important.

The town where I live is not very attractive for runners but the quiet, tree-lined streets of Los Altos are only a few miles away. And there are great trails in Rancho San Antonio and Stevens Creek Canyon. After close encounter with a rattle snake some years back I avoid running on narrow trails during the warm weather; it is more a state of mind than a real threat.

Age takes its toll. I am aware that one of these days the knees will give up or something else will happen and I shall have to stop running. In the meantime, I'm going to make the most of it.

Ultra Marathons

Gayla Johnson, who lives nearby, is an ultra marathoner. She has run the Western States 100 (see below) not once or twice, but four times! Amazing feat. For those who are not aware what the terms mean, distance for a marathon is 26.2 miles; ultra marathons are races of 50 miles and over. To some it is lunacy. I know why she does it--for the agony and the ecstasy.

The bare facts:
"The Western States Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra trail events in the world and certainly one of the most challenging.

The Run is conducted along the Western States Trail starting at Squaw Valley, California, and ending in Auburn, California, a total of 100 miles. The trail ascends from the Squaw Valley floor (elevation 6,200 feet) to Emigrant Pass (elevation 8,750 feet), a climb of 2,550 vertical feet in the first 4½ miles. From the pass, following the original trails used by the gold and silver miners of the 1850’s, runners travel west, climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970 feet before reaching Auburn."

Another tough one is the 135-mile race from Bad Water to Whitney Portal. It begins in Badwater, Death Valley, 280 feet below sea level, crosses the desert, continues through the town of Lone Pine (3700 feet) and finishes at Whitney Portal, 8,360 feet above sea level.

Link:WSER

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