Zen and the Art of Running

How Running Cultivates Self-Reliance and a Special Kind of Quality

It’s widely known that running is great for both physical and mental health. Yet an often overlooked benefit of the sport is that for many, it fills a void in our increasingly complex and interconnected world. Running gives runners an opportunity to set a concrete goal with tangible results and either succeed or fail — with only themselves to thank or blame. This is huge.

Clearly Defined Success

Most people run in pursuit of achieving something that is “objectively good,” or a clear and measurable goal — like finishing their first half marathon or perhaps even running a marathon in under three hours. In order to accomplish these goals, runners rely primarily on their bodies. This provides them with a sense of individual agency and self-worth that is crucial to general health and well-being.

In today’s world, opportunities to strive toward the type of objective good afforded by running are somewhat rare. That’s because many of us spend our days working in an office, where, in the words of philosopher Matthew Crawford, “despite the proliferation of contrived metrics,” there is a “lack of objective standards.” This is not a negative critique of the modern-day workplace, but rather, an inherent consequence of a complex economy that produces non-material goods and services.

Ask someone what it means to do a good job on an intricate project at the office and it could take them an hour to explain and require charts and graphs. Ask that same person what it means to do a good job in their next race and I bet they can tell you in less than a minute, no PowerPoint required.

It’s possible that most people are fulfilled spending their days in pursuit of the subjective good typical of the knowledge economy job. But perhaps runners are not. Why might this be the case? To quote Crawford:

“The satisfaction of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence has been known to make a man quiet and easy. It seems to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He simply points: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on.”

Crawford, who is a mechanic, ushers in this kind of “manual competence” and the contentment it brings by fixing motorcycles. Runner’s find it by striving for new personal records (PRs), which, by definition, are tangible results that can be traced back to the self. In this way, running makes runners more full.

A Special Kind of Quality

When a runner sets out to accomplish a goal, their body is their predominant tool. Their mind, then, must be focused on using it. The result is a Zen-like harmony between the cognitive mind and physical body, a rhythm that is constantly evolving with each and every training experience.

In order for a runner to avoid injury, let alone improve, they must be attentive to the cues coming from their body. These signals determine how to approach the next stride, but they also influence what the next run might look like: Should they push to build on gains? Or, should they pull-back, giving their muscles more time to recover?

Over a broader horizon, the summation of bodily cues and a runner’s reaction to them shapes their training program, and ultimately, the outcome it produces. This is why the best athletes approach each workout with deep focus and care. Training in this manner fosters a relationship between runner and running that embodies what I call “Quality”: something that occurs when an actor and their act are so seamlessly interwoven that they are hard to separate — they nearly become one. (This definition of Quality was first introduced by Robert Pirsig in the novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.)

Runners are inherently involved in every step of their act, acutely aware of their muscle contractions, breathing, and the lactic acid that is boiling under their skin. Over time, they develop a closer relationship with their body and improve their understanding of how it works. And with mindful attentiveness, they make it work better.

Elements of this process are satisfying ends in themselves, like the enjoyment of a beautiful day outside or the stress release that accompanies a hard training session. But for runners who race competitively, there is no denying the satisfaction they experience when all of their hard work manifests in a race well run, something measured by the most objective and honest standard of all — time.

Following a good workout or race, runners are extremely proud of the Quality they’ve created. They relish in the knowledge that the manual labor involved in transforming their bodies was, in fact, theirs. The deep satisfaction, confidence, and fulfillment this brings is something many runners appreciate and share. And it’s a huge reason why they keep coming back for more.

Thanks for reading! If you like what you read, I’d be honored if you checked out and considered pre-ordering my forthcoming book, PEAK PERFORMANCE. You can also follow me on Twitter @Bstulberg, where I share all of my writing and the latest on health and the science of human performance.

Brad Stulberg writes about health and the science of human performance. He’s a columnist at Outside Magazine and New York Magazine.