Weather - 47 degrees, cloudy, windy.
"If we really want to live, we'd better start at once to try; If we don't, it doesn't matter, but we'd better start to die" - W. H. Auden
The above quote is from the opening page of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Finding Flow". I was reminded of this book on my run today because I was reflecting on why I feel so good when running long distance.
I once again ran the same loop I have been traversing for the past two days. In the hours leading up to these runs I can feel my body/mind craving the experience which occurs at about the 70-90 minute mark of the run - when the energy level begins to swing back and forth, and my being becomes wholly immersed in the experience.
"The metaphor of 'flow' is one that many people have used to describe the sense of effortless action they feel in moments that stand out as the best in their lives. Athletes refer to it as 'being in the zone', religious mystics as being in 'ecstasy', artists and musicians as aesthetic rapture."
I have found various activities which produce this flow-like experience - photography, reading, chess/poker, and of course, running. I have also found activities which produce the opposite reaction to flow, which is when time seems to stand still, for all the wrong reasons. I will admit that so called "parties" have always had a sobering (even when drunk) effect upon me, and is an activity I place in the anti-flow category - time slows down to a crawl, I feel mental discomfort, and I look for any excuse to get out of the crowded room.
Some people would call this outlook anti-social, but that is a negative term which does not fit. It is not the people I don't like, it is rather having to endure gossip and idle chit chat. "Pro-solitude" is perhaps a more accurate word.
But to get back to my recent training days, I have found that once the run extends long enough, flow, which was already present from the beginning of the run, becomes more intense, and could be called "flow squared". It is such a potent experience that I very well could be addicted to it. I can think of worse addictions, I suppose.
After the run I wanted to do some strength exercises, but instead I stopped at Jimmy John's and ate a sandwich as I walked home.
#363
| 