The art of running

[The Beast of Bevendean]

Radio 3 broadcast a discussion on the Arts of Running last week. It's available here: Free Thinking: The Arts of Running
While I found the presenters, and at least one of the contributors, intensely annoying, there was also some thought-provoking stuff.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I gave this a go, and as you say, there is some thought-provoking stuff, but equally some annoying contributions. Still, it passed the time on my train ride to w*rk.

George Orwell reckoned that at the bottom of a writer's pile of motivations lies a deeper mystery. I think it's equally true too of running. And as directors of horror movies are only too well aware (and are prepared to exploit), you really shouldn't go shining lights on those deeper, darker corners of the mind.

[The Beast of Bevendean]

They're artists, darling....one must expect a certain amount of nonsense.
I've always struggled to understand people who claim, as a couple of these do, that running allows them to think through problems, etc...doesn't one say she wrote her PhD while running.
I have few thoughts while running, and fewer still that are fit for public consumption.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I have few thoughts while running, and fewer still that are fit for public consumption.

I know what you mean. Typically my only thoughts are along the lines of "Why am I doing this AGAIN?", albeit with a few expletives and blasphemies thrown in.

It's colourful, at least.

[Charliecat5]

They're artists, darling....one must expect a certain amount of nonsense.
I've always struggled to understand people who claim, as a couple of these do, that running allows them to think through problems, etc...doesn't one say she wrote her PhD while running.
I have few thoughts while running, and fewer still that are fit for public consumption.

But... I do find that running allows me to think through problems...

Not running up the Twittens I grant you... but when running over the hills my mind gets busy on all sorts of things...

Such as: Does he just wear those socks for comical effect, or does he really think he looks good in them?

Such as: How can she really be heading South when Lewes is so obviously East from here?

Such as: This run really would be a lot easier if I hadn't have drunk to much last night... 

Such as: Does my arse look big in these shorts...

[Sweder]

Running can allow thoughts to surface, which is one of the reasons I got so hooked on it some years back. If I run simply for the pleasure of running and allow my mind to wander/ wonder, I find the mechanics of the physical process in some way frees my subconscious, or, at least, the dusty, rubbish-strewn corners of my brain that rarely see daylight, let alone get house-room.

Back in the day, I used to come back from a run, flop my still-sweating form in front of the PC and hammer out pages of jibberish. Wave after wave of subconsciousness, downloaded and published, warts, typos and all.

Then one or two on here started reading it, even finding substance to some of it worth commenting on. I became self-conscious, aware of what I was writing. I think, over time, that has contributed to a drying-up, at least in my case.

Where I find running and thinking make great bedfellows, though, is in the travelogue. There's no better way to see a new place than to run through the streets, brush past the locals and sweat all over their homeland. I've recently run in several 'new' (to me) locations, and I feel moved to write that up. It's feels good to want to do that, and, as ever, running has played its part.

Running, as it says somewhere hereabouts, is the answer.
The question? More Deep Thought is needed.