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Aid Station: Inefficiency is the Point

In this month's edition of the Aid Station, Zoë Rom reflects on traveling (and running) in rural Portugal for a couple of weeks, ultimately discovering Kurt Vonnegut's lesson for ultrarunners.

Zoë Rom

October 11th, 2024

3 min read

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I’ve been traveling in rural Portugal for a couple of weeks, in the hills far away from Lisbon, the Douro valley, or any kind of recognizable trail running infrastructure. 

runner in Portugal

The running here is windy. It takes you through centuries-old (no joke) cobblestone streets worn down by footprints contemporary to the Renaissance or the Gutenberg Press. It takes you through vineyards dripping with fresh grapes for Vino Verde and through tight stucco alleys that are just wide enough for a Renault Clio to slide through, if the side mirrors are folded in. It takes you through tiny villages built impractically into the side of steep, forested hills, each with its own well-appointed chapel. And those are the parts where there is any path at all– the route I found online has taken me several times through fields and forests that don’t feel as if they’ve hosted a pedestrian in quite some time. 

The running here is horribly inefficient. What would take me an hour back home in Colorado can take upwards of 90 minutes here as I lose time to the off-camber cobblestones and trying to navigate the narrow streets that laugh at the idea of a GPS assist. 

It’s slow, frustrating – and maybe perfect? Could that inefficiency perhaps be the point?

Kurt Vonnegut thinks so. 

In a 1996 interview, Kurt Vonnegut discusses why he loves mailing letters. While he admits that he could buy stamps and envelopes in bulk, and just drop them in a mailbox. But, he doesn’t. Instead, Vonnegut buys envelopes and stamps one at a time, and mails them individually at the post office, in person… Why?

“I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great-looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is we’re here on Earth to fart around.”

Zoë Rom in Portugal

Rushing through things that could take time might run counter to the reason we’re here– to fart around. 

There is so much fun, and connection, to be had in the inefficient in-betweens. There probably is a more efficient way to get from point A to point B. But it isn’t running, and certainly not running through the forests, mountains, tow-paths, back roads, gravel and other unpaved paths that trails tend to take us. 

Sometimes, when I’m focused too much on efficiency, it comes at the cost of actually seeing what’s around me when I run. It means sacrificing connecting with the people, and dogs, and landscapes that running gives us the privilege of experiencing. It means skipping the ancient cobblestones to save a few seconds per mile. It means rushing through landscapes that are best enjoyed in sips, not one giant gulp, to truly appreciate the terroir– to parse out the fruity pastel notes in the early morning sky, or enjoy the dusky, oaky aftertaste of a sunset. 

The inefficiency might be the point. It gives us time to savor the unique notes that every run can offer, if we just take the time to really taste it. And even though the point of running is to sometimes run fast, it can also be to embrace going slow, too.

Zoë Rom

5 thoughts on "Aid Station: Inefficiency is the Point"

  1. Michael Glasgow says:

    Thanks for your article! I’ve heard Vonnegut’s idea of how to mail a letter before, but your story was a nice reminder that sometimes, it’s good to slow down and smell the roses, do to speak.

  2. Michael Glasgow says:

    Zoë, I posted your article on my Facebook page, along with a couple of short stories of my own.
    Thanks!

  3. Tom says:

    Well Said and great story. I just spent 2.5 hours hiking 3.6 miles with my wife whose new knee is only 6 months used. The hiking was leisurely but we really appreciate the changing aspen colors and the vistas to the far canyon ridge. We had hiked it before but it was sweeter this time.

  4. unkeymelvis says:

    Well said
    and WELL DONE…….. babe !! ( channeling KV )

  5. Paul Fitzgibbons says:

    “Don’t try“ is on Charles Bukowski’s gravestone. I can relate. Forcing things never did anyone any good. That being said, Vonnegut was an atheist, and while I’m not conventionally religious I still see a higher-than-human hand adjusting things of this world. Anyone who sees a volcano erupt should agree. Vonnegut, thanks to his atheism, was incapable of thinking like this, which means he finds purpose in little, or nothing. I’d beg to differ, even if I love his work.

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