I had a thought today–while running. How far should one run? Seriously. From a practical standpoint and not a sports or ego standpoint–how far should you be able to run? Here are my thoughts, and again, this is practical as in survival–not anything beyond.

1. I need to be able to run far enough to save my own life.
2. I need to be able far enough to save the lives of my family.
3. Ideally, I would like to be able to run far enough to save someone else’s life.

How far is the above? One block? One mile? This is going to vary by person, but my family hikes remotely at times miles from services, so for me, I should be able to run for many miles. Again, THIS IS FOR SURVIVAL PURPOSES. I historically felt I should be able to run 20 miles even if it nearly killed me–just for survival purposes. Realistically now? I would say based on my current outdoor activities, I should be able to run at least 10-15 miles off road in mountainous conditions–just to save my life or the lives of my family. I might need to run out for help if a child fell and had a serious injury. I might need to outrun a predator and keep running long enough to burn them or it out.

So, for all the people who automatically disrespect running altogether–it’s complete BS from a survival standpoint. Do I need to “run” to be able to run? Not really–unless I need to run 15 miles in mountainous conditions which I might very well have to do, so just doing a bunch of kettlebell swings, Olympic deadlifts, yoga, or Spinning while stationary in one spot won’t be very efficient when you have to start trail running in poor lighting and really need to know AND FEEL running–for survival.

Enjoy your running, but know the difference between practical running, sport running, or mindless running with no practical purpose.