WHY HUMANS RUN FOR NO REASON

I’ve been watching what humans do when they leave on foot even when nothing is happening.

They put on special coverings for their feet. Different from the ones they use for ordinary leaving. Lighter. Tighter.

Sometimes they stand near the door for a while before they begin. They look outside. They shift their weight. Sometimes they make tired sounds before they even leave the house.

Then they go outside and begin moving fast.

Not walking. Running.

There is nothing ahead of them. Nothing behind them. No one is chasing them. No one is waiting where they are going.

Still they follow the same paths. The same turns. The same corners. The same stretches of ground.

I have seen humans repeat these routes over and over across many days. Sometimes before the sun is fully up. Sometimes after the light goes low.

They return to the same house they left from.

Nothing was carried back. Nothing was hunted. Nothing was escaped.

But the route was traveled again.

Their breathing gets loud. Water appears on their skin. Their faces turn red. Still they continue until the path is complete.

Sometimes they return moving slowly and making the same tired sounds again. Then after a few days, they leave and run the same path once more.

I think humans run this way so the paths around the den remain familiar to them. That is why they repeat the same routes even when nothing is there.

The movement is not for reaching something.

It is for remembering the way.

June (quietly): “Why do they repeat the path if they already know where it goes?”

Walter: “Because they do not trust paths that have been left alone too long.”