Dr. Graham, a professor of religious studies at Michigan State U., found that runners in his study had many reasons for running. (Graham, 1979) He noted some were competitors, others ran to escape the pressures of life. Others experienced a rebaptism into the newness of life, or a quiet time similar to those of prayer and contemplation. Some were pure health freaks. Many ran to stave off the possibility of their bodies decaying in a modern convalescent home. They wanted to remain active and independent until they die. “Running is a scientifically approved way of extending life; runners however, do not so much want to gain an extension as they want to ensure mobility until death comes”. (p. 822)
Amusingly, one older runner friend of the author was in part motivated to keep running by a dream in which he was killed in a car accident. “A surgeon is handed his heart on a tray so it can replace the diseased heart of a younger person. As the cardiac specialist picks up my friend’s heart, he looks at it, whistles admiringly, and says, ‘What a beauty. Too bad the youngster who had this is dead’.” (p. 822)