The Loneliness
of The Long-Distance Runner...
« Your average marathoner
is, for whatever reason, uncomfortable with comfort. It may be difficult to
read in the slackened face of a runner approaching the finish line after
twenty-six miles. But on some level, (…) he’s delivering a very pointed fuck
off to something or someone. (...)
The object of [Colin] Smith’s
resistance [in « The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner »] was the
Borstal’s condescending authority figures, who took an opportunistic pride in
his talent. (...)
The trade-off for submitting
voluntarily to the pain of a marathon — which really can be otherworldly — is
the opportunity to transcend your anger, to step outside normal life and build
a unique narrative out of a sanctioned act of rebellion.
For several hours, the
long-distance runner becomes a sober and well-hydrated flâneur carousing through city streets, absorbing floods of
impressions and assembling the images and thoughts that will animate [their] post-run account. »
James McWilliams
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