Born to Run

The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other, he understood, but to be with each other.

Know why people run marathons? he told Dr. Bramble. Because running is rooted in our collective imagination, and our imagination is rooted in running. Language, art, science; space shuttles, Starry Night, intravascular surgery; they all had their roots in our ability to run. Running was the superpower that made us human—which means it’s a superpower all humans possess.

Baby, this town rips the bones from your back;
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap …

—BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, “Born to Run”