Running and Writers

I’ve been running all my adult life. I used to do it primarily for exercise now I find I do it mostly for the peace of mind it gives me. My love of running has gotten more intense with age, perhaps because it is one of the few times during the day when I feel free of technology and the pressures of work and home. When I think of all the places I've visited or lived over the years, what's imprinted in my mind in addition to the hotels, apartments, and houses are the various running routes I've repeatedly trekked — Cleveland Circle Reservoir in Boston; Henry and Clinton Streets in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and now the small neighboring town on the water near where I live in Connecticut. In our busy lives, we are all running from here to there, so it's rather ironic to me that running is exactly what I do to take my mind off all the running around. How does this post connect to writers? In all my time publishing books, I've only had the pleasure to edit one novel where the protagonist is a runner. Is that because running appeals to a more solitary adult sensibility? Probably, but it's a fact that there are more teen runners now than ever before so young adults are happily embracing the activity. Maybe there's a way to put their passion for the sport in your stories. For all the writers out there —just some food for thought . . .