With career and school, I’ve bounced around place to place for almost ten years. The moving itself can be challenging, but each time I settle in a new place for a year or two, it gives me a fresh opportunity to explore. Most of the places I’ve lived are like a lot of the U.S.; where you actually live, your house or apartment or dorm, is often isolated from the places you eat, shop, work, and play. It’s all designed for travel by car.
When you’re whizzing around in a car, you rarely get a sense for anything between origin and destination. Attention has to be given to the road. Unless you’re in that sweet envelope of mild temperatures, low speed limits, and clean air, you’re forced to roll up the windows and seal yourself off from the world around you. In these circumstances, the distance is nothing more than an inconvenience, something to be traversed.
When I move to a new place, I always want to get a sense for that place, and I never find it by just scooting around in my car. I find it by running. Before I start running in a new place though, I research. I look online in street view photos to see which streets have sidewalks (never a given in our suburban landscapes). I see if there are any trail networks to link up to. I map out my distances. And then I get to running.
Running allows me cover miles without taking up a whole morning or afternoon, unlike walking. At the same time, it takes me about slower than a car. I get to take in all the details of my surroundings, the smells, sounds, temperatures, breezes, and -with the occasional inhaled bug- tastes. Run a route enough times, I get a sense for its rhythms. I figure out when garbage collection is, when the mail is delivered, when the school buses are out, when this person likes to mow their lawn, and that person likes to walk their dog. My muscles and lungs quickly teach me the topography, how much farther to the crest, or how long I get to coast downhill.
The roads themselves take on a new life. They grow from a boring collection of speed limits and traffic patterns to a network of rich and varied experiences. Each street has its own feel and I string them together for a unique running experience. Over time, running helps me build a sense for a place as a whole. In this way, running isn’t just exercise for my body, it’s exercise for my curiosity.
Tom Wittig, Connecticut
Running Enthusiast
When you’re whizzing around in a car, you rarely get a sense for anything between origin and destination. Attention has to be given to the road. Unless you’re in that sweet envelope of mild temperatures, low speed limits, and clean air, you’re forced to roll up the windows and seal yourself off from the world around you. In these circumstances, the distance is nothing more than an inconvenience, something to be traversed.
When I move to a new place, I always want to get a sense for that place, and I never find it by just scooting around in my car. I find it by running. Before I start running in a new place though, I research. I look online in street view photos to see which streets have sidewalks (never a given in our suburban landscapes). I see if there are any trail networks to link up to. I map out my distances. And then I get to running.
Running allows me cover miles without taking up a whole morning or afternoon, unlike walking. At the same time, it takes me about slower than a car. I get to take in all the details of my surroundings, the smells, sounds, temperatures, breezes, and -with the occasional inhaled bug- tastes. Run a route enough times, I get a sense for its rhythms. I figure out when garbage collection is, when the mail is delivered, when the school buses are out, when this person likes to mow their lawn, and that person likes to walk their dog. My muscles and lungs quickly teach me the topography, how much farther to the crest, or how long I get to coast downhill.
The roads themselves take on a new life. They grow from a boring collection of speed limits and traffic patterns to a network of rich and varied experiences. Each street has its own feel and I string them together for a unique running experience. Over time, running helps me build a sense for a place as a whole. In this way, running isn’t just exercise for my body, it’s exercise for my curiosity.
Tom Wittig, Connecticut
Running Enthusiast