Evolved Skills

I like Brighton with its mixture of the shabby and the smart, the bohemian and the down-to-earth. It is the traditional seaside resort for Londoners and I can remember trips from my early childhood, so it is also a place full of subconscious associations. This year we went there for a traditional bank holiday outing, where we wandered round the Lanes, walked along the prom, messed around on the pebbly beach and finished with some comfort eating.

Along the way I saw a woman reading palms and telling fortunes with a notice saying she had been a clairvoyant for 36 years. That got me wondering how much experience mattered for a clairvoyant, surely their whole pitch is that they have a special gift? Maybe its like everything, they have to practice to get in the groove. I don't know but the materialist in me would be more impressed with a sign that said something like 'cabinet maker for 36 years'. Then I would know what sort of skills had been developed.

On the beach there was quite a strong breeze coming off the sea and I became fascinated watching the seagulls. Wings outstretched they hovered, almost still in the wind, then changed direction and swooped down with ease and pace. They were perfectly adapted animals and there was joy in seeing that. Grace in movement is an aesthetic pleasure.

I was reminded of George Sheehan's idea that running helps us become a good animal but looking round the beach and I wonder how many of us could move with grace. Probably not many, myself included - and I run quite a lot. But being a good animal is about something other than grace. It is about discovering how we evolved and how we how are bodies are adapted and when we run we do this by testing how long or fast we can go. We both look for our limits and try to find the most economical way to move.

I like the way this links with the theory that as a species we evolved to run long distances. (See this article from last year).

Bramble and Lieberman were not at all surprised that a man won the Man Versus Horse Marathon. It fits their hypothesis. Unlike many mammals, not to mention primates, people are astonishingly successful endurance runners, "and I don't think it's just a fluke," Lieberman says. He and Bramble argue that not only can humans outlast horses, but over long distances and under the right conditions, they can also outrun just about any other animal on the planet—including dogs, wolves, hyenas, and antelope, the other great endurance runners. From our abundant sweat glands to our Achilles tendons, from our big knee joints to our muscular glutei maximi, human bodies are beautifully tuned running machines. "We're loaded top to bottom with all these features, many of which don't have any role in walking," Lieberman says. Our anatomy suggests that running down prey was once a way of life that ensured hominid survival millions of years ago on the African savannah.

The seagulls swooping in the sky or Kenenisa Bekele running 10,000 meters are wonderful examples of animal motion. We on the beach are similarly evolved – just out of condition. Nevertheless we can all run and with practice get better. We can all get closer to our animal nature but even if we concentrated for every moment of every day for 36 years we would still not be able to tell the future.

Both Were Doing Good

I was rather grimly plodding up a hill when I was passed by two people coming down. The first was a girl, probably about twenty who bounded down with speed and grace. Her whole body was at one as she made adjustments for the uneven surface and moved slightly side to side to find the best place to land her feet. There was grace and natural elasticity in her movements and her face was in repose as if it did not require too much conscious effort. The second person down was a man in his forties running much more slowly. His legs were straight and stiff and the whole of his body was in tension. Whether he was scared to let go, worried that he might slip and fall if he went faster, or whether he was just a stiff runner doesn't matter, the fact was he was not making those micro adjustments needed when going down hill. You could see the effort on his face and his look was serious, a bit grim and full of concentration.

Both these people were doing good (I have this general rule that anybody I see out running is doing good), but oh how I wanted to be like that first person, fluid, at ease with my body, almost gliding but oh how I knew I was much more like the second.

That's what its like you have to accept what you are and work with it but by doing this you are in a better position to appreciate others. I love watching people who run well with good balance and posture. The girl who passed seemed graceful and have a sense of harmony.

“Athletics is still a good sport for the young” Steve Cram wrote, months ago at the height of the Dwain Chambers controversy. At the time I read those words almost as a cry of pain, that he felt he needed to justify his sport when all the talk was about drug misuse, cheating and cynicism. But when I look at someone running well, at ease with what they are doing , their mind and body engaged, it is a simple statement of fact “ running is a good sport for the young”.