A community of runners

SPORTING VIEWS: It may be an individual sport but it’s really about human connections.

Running, at its heart, is competitive but it is driven by a sense of community.

As runners pass each other daily on the streets, sweaty smiles and tired waves give them encouragement to make it to their goal, however far it is.

Running with the rhythmic sound of breathing in our head, the stomps of shoes hitting the pavement and the drive to finish, it puts you in your own world. Racing past athletes going through these same experiences gives enthusiasts a sense of togetherness.

Everyone has put in the miles, the work, the training, and all they are left with is the support of others experiencing the same sensations, of pain, guts and a sense
of achievement.

Competing in races with strangers begins with everyone running for themselves, but it ends with a kinship among fellow runners, even if you don’t know their names.

When a runner finds a teammate on the course it becomes top priority to keep them motivated. Seeing the faces of your teammates going through the same pain eases your pain. It is in that moment that you realize running is a community sport.

Having the moral support of a team always makes any task easier to overcome.

In other sports the athletes are not going through the same thing at the same time. In some sports, running is a punishment, which means that anyone who has ever competed knows the runners’ struggles.

We run solo, but we run as one.