Running to stand still

On the morning of December 25, 2010, I discovered I'd acquired a superpower. On a whim, I joined my wife on her regular run, and was astounded to cover nearly six kilometres, the longest run of my life.

I've never been a runner. In school, I swam and cycled. And at 17, I was diagnosed with a ‘total occlusion of the right popliteal artery'. (If you were sentient in the 80's this may sound familiar, but Bonnie Tyler's affliction was a ‘total eclipse of the heart'.)

In lay terms, and to doctors' bafflement, the artery behind my right knee had been blocked off by scar tissue. A failed attempt at balloon angioplasty led to low blood pressure below the blockage, resulting in painful calf-muscle fatigue if I tried to walk briskly for more than a couple of hundred metres.

Fitness is depressingly specific. Cycling every day won't prepare you for a hike to Macchu Picchu. Running on flat terrain doesn't mean you'll be able to climb hills. It's not just the energy it takes, but the way in which the muscles are used. Both during and after that long run, my legs, which can propel me for hours on a bicycle, were screaming murder in the strangest of places.

But even through the pain, I was elated. This was new. I could run! I could accompany my wife on her workouts. I could exercise when travelling.

Also, regular bicyclists soon start to feel like those grassland predators that need hundreds of square miles to survive. When you have 30 kilometres of bike track and still feel you're running out of room, it's heartening to be able to get a good workout within three kilometres of your door.

So speaking as an individual, I'm happy. Speaking on behalf of my people though, things aren't that impressive. With a small shift of focus it's easy to see how ridiculous this world has become. Like when you buy a soft drink and think of how we dig deep into the earth for ore, expend expensive energy to turn it into metal, stamp out a lightweight, hermetically sealed container, fill it with sugar water, use it once, then throw it away.

Supposedly, our ability to run for long distances without overheating is what let us start hunting down faster animals, running them to exhaustion. When you think about it like that, it really is a superpower.

As exhilarating as it is to propel yourself on a bicycle at 40km/h, there's a heavy awareness of all the technology you're using — wheels, chain, clipless pedals and shoes, a carefully designed frame.

With running, there's just you, your body and the road. And if you're doing it right, ‘you' eventually disappear, leaving just body and road. Who needs flying and X-ray vision?

Gautam Raja is a journalist based in the US.