The Watcher

Part 2 in a series of 5 segments about the development of the distance runner

by Patrick Reed

Welcome back to this series exploring in depth the stages of becoming for the distance runner. Click here to begin at Part 1 of the series.

The distance runner who has cut her teeth on the enthusiasm and novelty of this fresh sport – and upon her own naivete — she who has been, in a sense, deluded [or nearly tricked?] into this running addiction — awakens one morning and knows without a doubt that she is a runner. She has arrived, and the wheezing has found a home. It may even be that this sudden awakening happens amidst the meillifluous cadences of some inevitable run. And thus begins the morphing of the beginner – the Wheezer – into a stage 2 strider.

Sadly, most times, the more mature iteration…