Why Do You Love To Run?

I just read an excellent article in The Guardian entitled: Why We love to Run.  I think this part really nailed it down for me:

Running brings us joy. Watch small children when they are excited, at play, and mostly they can't stop running. Back and forth, up and down, in little, pointless circles. I remember, even as an older child, I'd often break into a run when walking along the street, for no reason. There's a great moment in The Catcher in the Rye when Holden Caulfield, caught in the uneasy space between childhood and adulthood, is walking across his school grounds one evening and he suddenly starts to run. "I don't even know what I was running for – I guess I just felt like it," he says.

Other reasons I love to run:
We get so stuck in our routines--house to car to work to car to home, that we rarely just get outside and look around.  I love the quirky little things I notice around town.

I love that I know exactly how far away certain landmarks in town are thanks to extensive google mapping and mileage tracking.

I love the feeling of running down a hill when the wind hits you just right and you feel like you're flying.

I love that my boyfriend never checks the forecast, he just asks me what caliber of jacket he needs.

I love making discoveries!  When I visited my brother last September, I discovered a small state park right next to his apartment that he didn't even know was there.  It had an extensive network of trails, a boat house and an outdoor gym.

I love knowing that my life can at any moment become a spy thriller and I can flee those who would want to capture me.

Racing along out on the trails, or even through the busy streets of a city, splashing through puddles, letting the rain drench us, the wind ruffle us, we begin to sense a faint recollection of that childish joy. Somewhere a primal essence stirs deep within us; this being born not to sit at a desk or read newspapers and drink coffee, but to live a wilder existence. As we run, the layers of responsibility and identity we have gathered in our lives, the father, mother, lawyer, teacher, Manchester United-supporter labels, all fall away, leaving us with the raw human being underneath.

 Why do you love to run?