According to this article in The Atlantic, runners are thinking trivial thoughts, about their pace, their pain, traffic. The conclusion the article comes to is that onlookers shouldn't assume runners have entered some zen state of mind in which time and space become one, or disappear. They're just thinking about how hungry they are.
The problem in this conclusion can be found in juxtaposition of the phrases "zen state of mind" and "What they're thinking." A zen state of mind is a state of "not thinking." So, okay, they asked runners to record what was going through their brains while running; on the surface, they got trivialities. What I question is the assumption that those surface thoughts are the whole of the running experience.
It is the experience, not the thoughts, that bring me back to the trail every day. There is something internal, something well below the level of conscious thought that is happening while I'm running. And, whether I'm thinking about moon pies or not doesn't touch that experience.
The problem in this conclusion can be found in juxtaposition of the phrases "zen state of mind" and "What they're thinking." A zen state of mind is a state of "not thinking." So, okay, they asked runners to record what was going through their brains while running; on the surface, they got trivialities. What I question is the assumption that those surface thoughts are the whole of the running experience.
It is the experience, not the thoughts, that bring me back to the trail every day. There is something internal, something well below the level of conscious thought that is happening while I'm running. And, whether I'm thinking about moon pies or not doesn't touch that experience.
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