The Long and Winding Road...

That song by the Beatles played over and over in my head when I was putting in the miles across Japan...

A little over 32 years have passed since I began running or hyper-ventilating all over the place, as some would say. I was only 14 years old at that time, living in the city of Sasebo, Japan. Yes, it is the city with an American naval base and should not be confused with famous military town of "Yukuuuuuuska," which is located somewhere near the Japanese city of Yokosuka.

The running started as an attempt to lose weight. Nobody likes to have their titties grabbed by other guys when playing a pick-up game of basketball. One skinny kid named Virgil Fisher, who had ears the size of peanuts, asked if I ate too much gohan after grabbing a handful of my right breast. (I never did like the idea of "shirts" and "skins" teams.) I was so heavy as a kid that my jeans had holes in the inner thigh area from all the friction. I was lucky not to catch on fire like my friend Victor Rosier did, when he put a pack of matches and neebies (Japanese firecrackers) into his pants pocket and ran around the neighborhood.

The running began for me in 1974, and the weight came off, so much that by the time I was 18, the young ladies looked at me and said, "Man, that's gross." I took that as a good sign. When people say you look healthy, that's a sign that you need to drop weight if you are a distance runner.

"Hey Fred, no need to run. Just roll up the windows in your car on a hot day and you will sweat just as much as you do when you run. Try it." Right! This was advice given to me by an older lady that worked with me in the early 1980's. She was dead serious.

"If running is so much fun, how come people that run look like they are not enjoying it?" This I hear every now and then. I usually ask the person if they enjoy sex and imagine how silly the person looks, smiling and/or laughing out loud while getting it on.

The running was no longer to lose weight, but a way to gather my thoughts and to experience the outdoors. Just lacing up the running shoes put my body in anticipation of that kinesthetic flow of cruising over a long distance. Yes, I have had the experience of running at an exceptionally fast clip with the sensation that I was expending absolutely no effort. It's the feeling of being detached from your body and just watching as you cruise along. I've had this happen on regular runs and even on some of the days when I was running the length of Japan.

Unfortunately, I don't get to enjoy this sensation much anymore especially with the dead legs that have accumulated so many miles over the 32 year period. In any case, I believe this is what many regular runners seek, while others may run to train for specific races and may occasionally experience the "runner's high." The running that continues today is with the hope that there is a slight chance that the sensation will return, kind of like Halley's Comet. But I guess I can say like many runners, I just run for the sunrise and the sunset.