Runners at Play

"Encourage young athletes, but don't force them. Let them play at athletics... If you encourage training from that perspective, their capacity for exercise, and the benefits they draw from it, will astound you." - Arthur Lydiard (1978)

I was reminded of Lydiard's quote yesterday, when I read that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just released a report on the role of play in the mental and physical health of children. The report sounds a familiar theme: changes in society have resulted in less time for children and youth to engage in play, with potentially negative consequences for both children and their families.

American Academy of Pediatrics
Report

The reason that this caught my attention is that I feel strongly that running is essentially and importantly a form of play. No one that I know, child or adult, runs for a living. It's possible, I admit, that our ancestors could have been running to find food or to escape peril, literally running for their lives. Maybe the rite of racing re-enacts some of that ancient survival mentality -- I don't know. But I do know that these days, for all but a handful of elite athletes, running is not work. It might be hard, but it's what we CHOOSE to do, not what we are FORCED to do.

As a coach, I feel that one of my most important duties is to show athletes how to play at running. Of course, you need a certain level of fitness to play at running, but once over that initial hurdle, a world of possibilities opens up for the runner.

I think the most basic form of running-play is exploration. A runner can go places without requiring a vehicle or money for a ticket. When I was a kid, I was thrilled that I could run places, when others chose to drive. It was like magic to be able to transport myself all over town, or to other towns. And yes, I did own a bike. I liked cycling, too, but the simplicity of running somewhere was always more attractive to me. Plus, there are places you can go on foot that are difficult to navigate on bike.

Another way of playing is to run at different paces -- starting slow, finishing fast; doing a slow run and following it with strides; doing a regular run and interspersing bursts of speed at random intervals. This last is called a "Fartlek" workout -- "fartlek" being the Swedish word for "Speedplay" (there's that word again!).

Perhaps most important, running is a delicious escape from the pressure-filled activities that fill our days. And I'm not just talking about running as a gentle, relaxing, jog in the park -- I'm also including Tuesday night track workouts in foul weather, Thursday night hill repeats, Saturday races, and other intense forms of the sport that, to me, still qualify as "play." There's no rule that says that play can't be strenuous and require immense effort and concentration. I'm telling you, there is no better way to erase the bad feelings from petty feuds and failures at the office or a bad day in school, than to spend half an hour running hard intervals on the track. It is good to be consumed with an activity that requires much, and gives back a feeling of self-satisfaction and contentment.

And this, I think, is at the heart of the issue: to remain playful, the focus of athletics must not be on results and outcomes, but on the activity itself. If goals such as times or championships becomes all-important, then running ceases to be play and becomes one more source of stress.

Finally, I would add that even runners who aspire to great things would do well to nurture the sense of play in their chosen sport. Racing an all-out mile or 5K is a daunting task, and becomes harder, not easier, when the mind dwells unproductively on the difficulties of the task. Among runners of equal ability, the one who survives this test is likely to be the one who finds the whole race thing kind of fun, who enjoys the challenge for its own sake, who is not fighting fatigue but playing with it.