13.1 Miles of _________.

This Saturday, June 4th, 2011 thousands of people will be running through the streets of South Bend for the Sunburst Races and I will be one of them. In 2010 I ran the 5k. This year I decided to add an extra 10 miles to that.

The gun goes off and a mile into the race there is an eery lack of conversation. Thousands of people are in the streets and all that you can hear is heavy breathing and footsteps in unison. Looking around you imagine yourself in a post-apocalyptic world, the streets devoid of cars, the tall downtown buildings looming above.

The endorphines begin to surge, tiny bumps like a plucked bird's skin appear on your arm, and you can imagine how easy it would be to abandon your civility. You start to envision yourself as some sort of animal, devoid of everything but raw unexpressionable emotions . You don't know what you're running from, but you're all running together, in a herd and it feels amazing. You look at those lagging behind and you know that if a predator gave chase, you would not be the one that it's claws and teeth sink in to.

After 13.1 miles of asphalt, Gatorade, and sweaty camraderie, I will collapse onto the cool green grass of the Notre Dame football field, able to call myself a half-marathoner.

Microsoft Approved Picture of the Day: How Not to Live Your Life Through a Screen.

As we roll through our everyday life more than likely we will be spending part of it in front of a monitor. That monitor may be in the form of a computer monitor or a television.

What is this picture trying to say? Is it that the world can be reached from your home with the Internet? The internet is a great tool to entertain, communicate and educate.

Increasingly, we experience the world through a screen. We interact with our friends through facebook, skype, or communicate through text messages, read on the screens of our cell phones.

The existentialist defines themselves through their actions, but what if the actions we partake in are all digital, done through a screen? I’m not advocating an off the grid revolution, but I would highly recommend turning it all off for a few hours out of the day.

Find a community trail where you don’t need to worry about vehicle traffic. I guarantee there is one near you. Put on a comfortable pair of shoes (I enjoy running barefoot, but that’s a whole other blog post altogether) and get out there. Go by yourself, or with a friend, run fast, jog slow, or walk if you need to. Get out there and experience some quiet and dare to be left alone with only your own thoughts to entertain you.

Also, be sure to "Like" the existential mustache running society page on facebook. It's full of inspirational quotes, family friendly pictures, and miscellaneous tomfoolery.

About This Blog

The existential mustache society was founded in the fall of 2010. Until that point I had enjoyed running, but only as a solo activity. After bumping into an old high school acquaintance at a 5k race, we got together for a four-mile run on the campus of Notre Dame.

I realized that while running alone provides lots of opportunity for self-reflection and daydreaming, running could also be a social activity. Running in a group can push you to go farther and faster than you would alone.

As for the name… As a English major in college some of my favorite readings were of Kafka and Dostoevsky, classic writers dubbed existentialists. Running is an existential activity, it becomes part of your identity, part of how you define your existence.

The most simple explanation for the mustache part of the name is that my friend, the co-founder, at times cultivates a handlebar mustache. It is also symbolic, mustaches aren’t exactly in fashion, the EMRS does not attempt to be fashionable. We aren’t running to break records or to have six-pack abs.

The mustache is also a reference to Steve Prefontaine (a famous runner of the 1970’s) and to nearly all great philosophers who have some sort of fantastical facial hair.

The last and most important component to the name is Society. It was purposefully dubbed a society rather than club because club infers a hierarchal structure. The group was meant to be loosely organized with no president, no fees, and no meetings other than on the running trail.

So when people ask, "What do
you do?" What is your answer?

"I am a 
son?", "I am a student?" or is it, "I'm a runner."