Running into the Sunset

“That was the real secret of the running people: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation….Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People.”

–Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

We are running people. So why has society become so sedentary? Every day in the United States, people wake up, drive to work, sit at their desk for eight hours a day, and then drive home. For us, that is natural. But that is not who we are. Society has turned running into a chore, a must-do if you want to loose weight. And with that, we have forgotten our love for running.

But not in Granada. Here, we are the opposite of sedentary. Every day I spend at least two hours walking, from home to class to tapas bars and back again. My 20 minute walk to school each day is nothing, whereas at home we complain about a 5 or 10 minute walk to class. There is no need to take a bus, or a taxi. Nightly paseos (walks) are a tradition here, and each night it puts a smile on my face to see so many elderly couples walking about, arm in arm.

Which brings me to another point. “You don’t stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running”. Same goes for walking, and being active in general. Maybe this is why the Spanish people look so much younger for their age—because they never stop walking.

And don’t get me started on running. In what other city can you run from the heart of downtown to the countryside trails in a matter of minutes? Take yesterday, for example. We went on our usual run along the Río del Genil, but instead of continuing along the river we took a trail up through the hills, forest, and olive orchards. After only 25 minutes of running, we found ourselves standing atop ruins of an old house, gazing across the river at a small pueblo, the buildings all painted white. If only I had a camelback and some snacks, I could have ran forever, through the countryside; up a mountain. Alas, it was getting dark, so home we went. And as we turned to run home, the sky filled with red/pink wispy clouds, and we ran into the sunset all the way home.