Well, if I can’t run, maybe I can read about it. Running features in some famous mid/late 20th Century fiction such as Alan Sillitoe’s Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and William Goldman’s Marathon Man (maybe not as well known as the film on which it is based, starring Dustin Hoffman?), but what about the greats of English Literature from the past?
From what I remember, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales didn’t have a part called “The Jogger’s Tale” and anyway, pilgrims tended to walk (or even in some cases go on their knees, if I’m not mistaken). The nearest I can get to Chaucer commenting on running is his quote, “by nature men love newfangledness”, which could be construed as a warning to consumers of the future not to get too excited by the latest jogging footwear.
On to Shakespeare, who usually has a quote about everything and he doesn’t completely disappoint. ‘Love runs away from those chasing her’, he tells us. A tad metaphorical, I suppose. ‘Now bid me run and I will strive with things impossible’, Ligarius tells Brutus in Julius Caesar. As it turns out, he’s not referring to getting on the track and setting a new personal best, but to the assassination of Caesar. You could picture it on an Adidas or Nike T-shirt though.
Now, I thought I was getting close with Jane Austen, who sounded like an old school PE teacher when she wrote the lines, “run as mad as often as you choose, but do not faint”. It would be interesting to hear what Mo Farah, Dina Asher-Smith et al would think of this as coaching advice. The quote comes from her novel Love and Friendship, which I had never heard of. I didn’t realise that a running blog could be so educational. Unsurprisingly, Austen is not referring to running in its literal sense, but some might say it could form the basis of a gruelling training regimen.
Thomas Hardy grudgingly yields a quote where ‘run’ is used in the literal sense: “if you hear a frog jump into a pond with a flounce like a stone thrown in, be sure you run and tell me, because it is a sign of rain”. In The Return of the Native, Eustacia Vye says these words to a boy who she has co-opted into setting up a bonfire as a signal for her ex to sneak over and see her. No mobile phones, you see. At least I think that’s why she wanted a bonfire. I did study this book many years ago, but obviously skipped this particular passage. I imagine jumping with a ‘flounce’ is quite athletic too, but not something I’m minded to try at the moment.
Lastly (for now), George Eliot warns us that “hobbies are apt to run away with us” and she’s correct. I realise I’ve spent an hour researching great writers and running, when I should have been hanging the washing out. Do excuse me…
SteveTLooksBack 