I started running around my 30th birthday. I wanted to lose weight; I didn't anticipate the serenity. Being in motion, suddenly my body was busy and so my head could work out some issues I had swept under a carpet of wine and cheese. Good therapy, that's a good run.

I had to do something to shake up my life and get some sense of control and trust in the world and along the way fill the hollow space. I needed to rebel against those negative forces, to scream so loud and for so long that the anger living inside me would evacuate forever. But instead of screaming, I ran.

When I get tired, I remember those who can't run, what they'd give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them. I know they would do the same for me.

One of life's simplest pleasures is going for a run outside. The late Dr. George Sheehan summed it up best: 'Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be.' So once in a while let's forget about footwear, performance standards, and high-tech gadgetry -- and instead simply let your body and imagination take you to new and familiar places. Armed with a sense of play as you run, there is no purpose or outcome other than to escape and be in the moment.