I drove to work this morning and got behind a black Range Rover covered with bumper stickers “13.1” and “26.2” and “Run.”
And I looked at the car and I thought, how white collar and/or affluent do you have to be to drive a Range Rover and run that far for a hobby? Now, if it is your hobby, I don’t mean any ill will. More power to you! Enjoy it! I applaud you!
But I think of my dad who spent much of my youth as a diesel mechanic, or I consider my mother-in-law growing up on a farm.
People aren’t meant to be sedentary and then run for a hobby. And the idea that people work in offices or as professionals is a modern construct, before that our lives were physical. We hunted, fished, farmed, foraged. Humanity as a species did not always have a WalMart. They had to make things, not buy them.
We hear all these talk about circadian rhythms, blue light, organic produce and carcinogens where in the past our ancestors worked in coal mines with canaries as the only safety equipment.
So when I get home from work after folding clothes in the Stitch Fix warehouse, my Apple Watch thinks I’ve walked 15,000 steps because that’s how much my arms move in a shift. I’m getting up before sunrise, going to the time clock and standing at a table for eight hours a day.
When I get home, it’s hard to drag myself to the gym. But I do it, because my body requires it. But run 26.2 miles? Never going to happen.
I don’t have the energy, the physical prowess or the financial resources to have that kind of free time.
Angel Ackerman 