Love me some Oates! She taught @ the U of Windsor in the day, not far away. Been a fan of hers since I read 'Them' in a college class.
Thanks for the link! AWESOME!
Thanks. That is very interesting.
Why do runners write?
Running and writing both require patience and persistence, talent and tenacity. No excuses.
You would think Running Times/Runners World would produce some better copy.
Can you say why you love you some Oates? All of her writing strikes me as soulless, vague, and unmoving.
To each his own of course, just curious what it is you dig.
Excellent piece. As a writer, I like running for its infinite flexibility. I can slow down and let my mind wander, solve narrative dilemmas (What should come next?); I can speed up, push long and hard, and narrow focus, pushing away my work until I'm ready to deal with it.
Running can be a practice, like a meditation practice or morning prayer: you show up for it and practice accepting what shows up, without judgment. (Most runners have a very hard time not judging a sucky run as a sucky run.)
In that way, running can be very much like writing, especially creative writing.
You can run as a Zen practice: being fully present, focused with a light clear pressure, rather than letting your mind wander.
Roger Joslin has a fine book about running as prayer.
http://www.amazon.com/Running-Spiritual-Path-Breathing-Meditating/dp/0312308868
Feminine people write, and most of you on here look quite feminine.
my god, a goober wrote:
Feminine people write, and most of you on here look quite feminine.
Did you know that my mother dressed my sister and me in identical girlie baby clothes for the first three years of my life? I prefer my women with their hair cut really short, like a boy's.
I also like to shoot lions and elephants.
And your point was.....?
"A dangerous fetish, a recipe for orthopedic, and possibly heart problems and should be done only by professional or semi-professional athletes. Stephen King did bicycles, probably better except for the traffic problem and was badly hurt in an accident.
Hiking or walking is far better."