Opinion: What is the point of running?

I used to think what is the point of running. Surely, there’s better things to do with your time. No one looks happy running around, hot, sweaty, and exhausted, why would you?

There are no goals, tries or even points, there’s just stopping. The end game is to cease running, the finish line. An individual battle against the runner and the clock.

My father used to run which turned into a jog and now it’s a walk. He ran everyday for over sixty years. Imagine the distance covered in that period. As a football fan, the euphoria is scoring goals and winning games, celebrating with your teammates or fellow supporters. The runners just look like they want to collapse into a high fibre, sugar free, protein bar.

My memories as a child were standing for hours, freezing, just waiting for my dad to run past in races and then disappear into the distance, like an energiser bunny on extra charge. Then comes the overpowering smell of Deep Heat outside the changing rooms like an unpleasant explosion to the senses.

However, as an adult I can see the sense of freedom, running through woodlands and meadows, catching the deer nibbling on the berries in the countryside. Watching the wild rabbits sprinting back to their burrows as they hear the thudding of footsteps. I also see the camaraderie and friendships made at the local running clubs. The lifelong enjoyment of escapism and achievement.

The endorphins pumping through the brain, the accomplishment and the meditative state are something we can all do with and helps us all with our well-being. My father, Frank Gargini, found this like thousands of others and I’m happy to admit I was wrong, and like Kate Bush said, “Keep Running up that Hill.”