Running: Better than Sex?

In the early 1990s, Runner's World magazine published a poll querying a group of male runners: if you could give up either running or sex for the rest of your life, which would you choose? The majority of respondents, who were a group of men in their 50s that ran at least 40 miles a week, said they would give up sex. I was 17 years old when I read that - very full of hormones - and was completely bewildered by the results. Fast forward to today, and as a runner in my 40s, I still find their answers incredible. But I thought that the two criteria in the survey were critical factors: 1) a group of men already in their 50s, who I imagine have already fathered children, so family/legacy issues may be less of a concern than men who were in their 20s or 30s. Also, maybe they went crazy in their earlier years and were content to take it down a notch, or in this extreme case, or drop it altogether; and 2) they were already accomplished runners, logging a healthy distance each week - this was a group that clearly made running a regular habit.

But giving up sex over running? For the rest of their lives? Fo' reals? I thought about this yesterday when I ran three miles indoors. I ran the last two miles in 12:55, close to my much sought after 20:00 5k pace, and it was anything but enjoyable. There were at least a dozen other activities I would have preferred to be doing, none of them necessarily salacious. I talked about this with a couple of friends, who remarked that maybe the sex just wasn't that good. The optimist in me, however, likes to think that for this group of men, maybe running is just amazing - at their level, they may have discovered the holy grail of athleticism. Fortunately, however, we don't have to limit ourselves, and doing more of one probably helps the other. The next time I'm suffering through a workout, though, I'll remind myself that for many men, running still trumps one of life's greatest pleasures, however difficult that may be to believe.