Is running selfish? Why do you run?

I run because I have yet to find meaning in anything else.

once it becomes obsessive, it is without a doubt a selfish activity. i have run fast but what does that mean, i run faster than 99.9 % of the population and it feeds my ego. then again, i ran fast, and without it, my wife and children would look different.

a fmr scholarship athlete

I picked running as a sport because I have a family. I could go running at night when they are asleep and on the weekends I'm away about two hours each day. I know other guys who are married with kids who are out Golfing (not that I consider Golf a real sport) all day every weekend. I need a sport and running is a good fit.

My 1st grade school was about 1.5 miles away. We were poor so both my parents worked and they trusted that I get myself on the school bus every morning.

The school bus was always full when it came to my bus stop and as a shy skinny nervous and the only asian kid in a very mexican town, I always found it hard to find a seat without being bullied.

So I walked and ran to school everyday. Even during cold winters, I loved the freedom of walking, running, and allowing my imagination to run wild during those hikes to school. I don't know if I was communing with nature and god, but I felt closer nature and god back then more than I've ever felt growing up with dogma in church.

Now at the age of 34, I've had success and misery in relationships, jobs, and life in general. Life is always changing for me. There are always new challenges and stresses. Even my family and friends are not the same people as I grew up with. Everything in life changes which is not a bad thing.

Running is my one constant thing in my life. It defines me as a person. It connects to me to my youth and throughout life's journey.

I've never found waxing philosophically about running to be compelling. George Sheehan wrote some book along those lines as have others. It's just something people do for fun, or fitness, or excitement, or to avoid going crazy, anxious, or depressed. Insert your own reason. Most likely no one really cares, but you.

JonDCH wrote:

Most likely no one really cares, but you.

And that's why it matters so much.

I feel a little cliche busting out the pre quotes, but this really kind of sums it up for me.

"Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before."-pre

i've never understood the people on this board who say running is so selfish? doesn't make any sense. by that logic any individual pursuit in life is selfish. whether its a job, a hobby, going to school, whatever. i think most people run because they enjoy it and people do what they enjoy.

Deep Shallow Thoughts wrote:

Is there some noble cause to run?

Yes, but it is personal.

How often do you ask why you run?

I don't, I just do it.

Do you ever come up with a good answer?

No, but it calms my demons.

Does there have to even be a good answer?

Absolutely not, you should never have to give a reason to run.