September 3, 2026
Our society is obsessed with health as a means of avoiding direct confrontation with death. If we consume the right foods, take the correct medicine, and act in our prescribed ways, we may keep ourselves in good health in perpetuity. A focus on exercise is one such example of this neuroticism. That one uses the full capability of their bodies solely as an escape from the inevitable is both a fool’s errand and ensures that any higher meaning in exercise is obscured. When one instrumentalizes action as a means alone, they lose sight of how exercise is a unique form of play and purpose. Though I will not deny that the physical benefits are nice to have.
As we tread toward modernity, we see successive reductions in our required energy output. Cars allow us to use much less bodily energy than bikes to travel, which in turn is a gain over walking. Climate control reduces the energy we must spend for homeostasis. And so on. There is a natural desire for the conservation of energy stemming from that we once faced a scarcity of it. Equally, we tend toward sedentarism as this is a more efficient form of survival. This tendency we share with the basest of animals. Unlike animals, we ostensibly have the willpower to do actions which run against our inbuilt nature—thus we have sports, play, and exercise. These are all higher actions (though some animals do play) which evidence our abilities to outfox nature. Exercise is a temporary action against the call of thermodynamics that we may take the reins.
Adding to its unique human qualities, exercise may also provide a purpose. We are lacking in purpose in a secular age and running alone may not fill that hole, but any action is superior to languishing in hopelessness; that we may surpass our past selves or others is a thing to do that does not involve rotting on our phones. Much of what I do at work is consumptive (though I do not have the internet at home, my consumption is rooted in books, trying new cuisines, and taking in my landscape). Running is not, but for the price of shoes. It spans to the creative; when I worked in research, I had my best ideas (shoutout to my YOLOv3 calibration function!) while on runs. Now they provide a clearheaded space with which to plan for and orient my day. A provision of interstitial space unencumbered by consumption is rare and appreciable in its own right, furthermore that it provides a signpost that we may affix purpose to.
I would be remiss not to mention the body. Another way we deny the body is that our tendency toward dualism may imply some immortality of the mind separate from our failing bodies. Exercise reminds us of our mistaken severability: that we are not just in, but are, our bodies. My mind is inseparable from the actions my body takes; thought patterns take on a different shape when affected by exercise. A fun example is that movement makes my dogs far less neurotic. As well, an ability to use the body is satisfying. Our sedentary lives hide our capability for movement; using ourselves to our fullest is a unique quale. That we are provided the ability to feel all sorts of experience in a finite lifespan, improving our capability to meet these abilities helps us make use of more of our finite lives. It is lovely to be able to experience more and have more energy. Exercise is a means to do so.
“Run” is framed because I spend my time this way. Use your body to its fullest in the ways you see fit. Why run? To enjoy all that you can while you are able.