Thoreau was a surveyor, which is the practical reason he knew the Concord area as well as he did, the minute changes in its seasons and its citizens of all species. Running can be seen as a sort of surveying, allowing us to register the changes in our own neighborhoods. I know one woman on our street who told me she is glad I run because she thinks it helps keep crime down for neighbors to be out and about, watching things. Running is surveying, a crime patrol, a nature walk, a personal meditation, a social event, a fitness test, a training session, stress relief, a hundred things besides just running, and to set all of them into motion at once we simply walk outside, pick up our feet and put them down, over and over again, with total awareness. Such a wellspring of positive karma from such a simple act.
