Running is very personal to me. I don’t run to win races, I don’t run to beat my PB (although I’m ecstatic whenever I do), and I certainly don’t run to keep up appearances. To be brutally honest, I don’t even run for health and fitness reasons.

I run because I love it. Admittedly, the hobby first began 6 years ago as an escape from the demands of parenthood. However, that hobby has now become a love affair which I most certainly will continue to covet, even after my children have long left the nest.

It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind my passion for running. It might be the luxury of “me” time that running provides, away from all of life’s distractions. It might be that it is a medium in which I can let my mind run wild, with the occasional burst of creativity (very rare though) whose originality surprises even myself. Or it might be that it is the perfect outlet for a born-worrier like myself to gnaw away at my many worries, without the incessant but well-intended questions from my wife (“What are you thinking? Let’s talk.”) or my kids (“Why are you thinking? Let’s play“).

So these are the things I think about when I think about running. What I don’t think about, even remotely, is beating PBs, keeping up appearances and getting fit – benefits that sometimes materialise unintended, as I pursue my love affair with running.

* The inspiration for the title to this blog was borrowed from “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”  – a beautifully-written book by Haruki Murakami on the interaction between writing and running. Check it out!