Running in my dreams
August 29th, 2006 at 10:37 am (Physical)
It’s not uncommon for me to dream about running. In the dreams, of course, it always feels as effortless as runners make it look. Usually, the running constitutes only a small portion of the dream. I am running to get somewhere, or running away from something. Often I stop running because my dream self realizes, “Oh wait. I’m fat. I can’t run.”
Last night I had a dream that featured running and a few new developments. First, I was running in a race. Second, I deliberately ran slowly (though it still felt effortless) because I didn’t want to push myself too fast or too far. Thirdly, I stayed asleep until the sweet, sweet ending — that is, in my dream, I finished the race. I crossed the finish line. Maybe for the first time ever. And, sure, it was just a dream… but it was awesome.
It reminded me of a passage from John Bingham’s excellent book, The Courage to Start:
… You cannot pretend to be a runner, you actually have to run. In the end, being a runner is no more complicated than that. To be a runner, you simply have to run. It’s not enough to dream about being a runner. It’s not enough to plan on being a runner. Sooner or later, you have to run. And if you run, you are a runner.
