Sept. 12/08: Going Running with DNTO

Hi you. Welcome to our super deluxe DNTO website! Sook-Yin Lee here.

If you can't touch your toes in the standing position,
If your desk job has seized your hip joints,
If playing video games and watching TV is turning you
into a giant flesh blob, you better get ready to run!

I'm tying up the shoelaces of my brand new running shoes very, very slowly. This wasn't my idea! Running is the last thing I want to be doing. I'd be happier hosting the show from my bed.

But the thing is, running is about more than just getting your butt in shape...

Besides physical fitness, running taps into our social conventions, psychology and our subconscious. Whether you're running for your life or breaking the rules and running down the hallway, running reveals a lot about us.

Why DO we run? Especially when we don't really have to?!

On this week’s episode of DNTO, find out which people in your life are more likely to have crazy stories involving foot-chases with the police. And once we warm up, let's run full-speed through a posh art gallery to see what happens to us. Plus, everyone knows what it’s like to have a nightmare where you’re trying to escape but for some reason your legs won’t move! We’ll explore what all that running around in our dreams means.

You see, there are many things in the world I love but it's safe to say, I hate running. It's sweaty and suffocating and makes my legs seize up and stomach cramp. Landing hard on one foot then over to land hard on the other foot is a brutal experience. I have no use for that kind of torture.

Back in elementary school, every Sports Day, in the middle of the running races, I'd crash to the ground and imbed my bloody knees with rocks. I still have the scars. High school phys-ed class pushed us outside in short pants in winter, and forced us to run for miles along Mountain Highway, up Lynn Valley Road, over to Westlynn Place and back down Lonsdale Avenue. I couldn't do it without seriously injuring myself, so one morning, while the other girls jogged ahead, Dina Hollowaty and I decided to hitchhike. Dina was a headbanger. She wore heavy mascara and hung out in the smokers' pit. Under any other circumstance she would never have befriended me. Dina was super-cool. I was a dork.

We stood at the side of the highway in shiny Adidas mini-shorts. Cars barreled passed. I looked to Dina for support cause I was really nervous. She tossed her long blonde hair and extended her thumb. So did I. Hitchhiking was what juvie delinquents did, but I had no other choice, I hated running! A crack of thunder and it started to pour. That's when a beat up panel van pulled up onto the shoulder and a door slid open.

There were two men sitting up front. Their loud voices and forced laughter made me uneasy. Dina chitchatted. She asked them to drop us off at the bottom of Lonsdale Quay. I was so nervous I said nothing. Looking out the window, I noticed we were driving in the wrong direction, towards the highway into the city. The men had no intention of dropping us off where we wanted to go. I blurted, "Let me out." The two guys laughed harder. "You kidding?" they said, "We're never letting you out." My heart stopped. Shivering beside me, Dina went pale. Her mascara started to run. I reached for the door and it slid open. The ground was whirring past when the van lurched to a stop. Dina and I jumped out and ran for our lives. Without talking, we ran through the rain, our wet rubber soles slapping against the pavement. We ran past trees and houses, past the cemetery and the mall and finally we reached the school. After that, we never spoke to each other again.