Run Machines Have No Soul

I love running. I love the adrenaline that pumps through my veins as the wind crashes into me face. Running is such an extreme activity that anyone can participate in almost any setting. You don't necessarily have to be good at it, and it doesn't have to be competitive. Running is a chance for me to escape from my current circumstance and think about my life. Running also affords me an opportunity to admire God's creation around me.

Living in the Las Vegas Valley, everyone can attest to our beautiful, beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Depending on the amount of clouds in the sky, our dawns and dusks illuminate our valley with explosions of color that vary from blood red to electric blue to golden orange. I love observing the beauty of our landscape and I think that that is the reason why I love running so much in addition to the health benefits and the personal escape I mentioned earlier.

I've been using treadmills a lot lately due to Las Vegas' excessive heat, and while it is not ideal, it does allow me to get my adrenaline pumping in the comfort of an air-conditioned building, but while running earlier this week, I came to the conclusion that treadmills are soulless machines. That probably seems completely obvious to you, but while I was running outside in the city streets, I realized just how much I prefer running outside.

When I'm outside, my surroundings change, there is a measurable distance between point A and point B. Perhaps what I love most about outside running is that I can choose my end point and my route to that end point. Lastly, there is also a certain danger component involved that draws me toward running outside. On my many runs, I've almost been hit multiple times by cars and have been chased by dogs. I'm not proud of those instances, nor am I boasting about my manliness. It is the unpredictability of running outside that is another factor which causes me to love it so much.

On a treadmill, I can run 6 miles and my scenery doesn't change, I stay in the EXACT same spot. No change. No sense of accomplishment.

Although I'll continue to use treadmills because of their practicality, it will never be able to replace the experience of running with concrete/asphalt under my feet and trees/clouds above my head.

There's a bumper sticker that I've seen a couple of times, sometimes in the form of a t-shirt that reads: 'Drum Machines Have No Soul'.

Run Machines Have No Soul.