This Sport

It’s been a historical Sunday at the Berlin Marathon. The women’s world record was broken by two minutes by Tigist Assefa.

Eluid Kipchoge, that king, won a record fifth title at Berlin.

And so today, I thought of them as I ran in new shoes (Kipchoge branded, no less) and completed an easy time on feet run. 

I thought of their astonishing pace – how does a human move at twenty kilometres an hour? I thought about their bodies, the engine within that makes them traverse these distances at that speed.

To see the professionals run boggles the mind. That swiftness with that elegance. For me, it’s human at its utmost beautiful.

And to think that largely anyone can run – perhaps not with that same speed or elegance – but that an amateur, an everyday person, a first time runner can lace up at the same race as the world’s best professionals is one of the greatest highlights of this sport.

It makes this sport an endeavour of endurance that is incredibly unique, egalitarian, equal and bonds us as runners and people, with unmatched simplicity.

Just a run. Just running.