TV's LOST and Running

With tonight's final season premiere of LOST, I felt it would be fun to compare one of my favorite TV shows with my favorite activity: Running.

This is going to be a very surface comparison and mostly for fun, but if you are looking for in depth analysis about LOST, then you must visit my friend's site: Get LOST with JOpinionated. She recently returned from watching this season's premiere on the beach of Oahu with fans and the cast. Her site is amazing and her analysis second to none.

Relationships with People
LOST relies on the relationships of the characters to drive the story. Whether it is the struggle between Locke and Jack or the love between Jin and Sun... in running we must do the same by building and maintaining relationships with other runners. We help drive and motivate one another to reach our goals. They depend on each other to get off (or back on) the island and we must do the same to reach the finish line. Fate, destiny, purpose, determination... we must rely on all of it.

Relationships with the Island
The island obviously has a special effect on the people and the same is true for the distance having an effect on us. I can attest to this with every race. There is something about 26.2 that puts an extra pep in your step not only on race day, but leading up to it. I feel anxious days before and look forward to being out there at the start striving to get to the finish. Whether it is a marathon, half, ultra, 10k or fun run we build a bond with that distance. If we are the people, then the distance is our "island." 

The Numbers
For LOST they are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. For us it's a lot more difficult. There is our pace per mile, chip time, negative splits, 10k pace, race pace and that is just the timing. Then there are the distances: 26.2, 13.1, 5k, 10k, 50k, and the list goes on. Each having their own special qualities and their own "abilities." If someone says let's run a 10k pace compared to let's run marathon race pace, there is a difference. Numbers can be funny and just like they do for Hurley, they can definitely affect our daily lives. 

Time Travel
This sort of became more of a relevant issue last season, but it has always been hinted at in previous seasons (or at least been a theory). In an event we definitely don't time travel, well, at least I haven't. But I do find certain miles disappearing when I try to think back post run about the race. It's typically miles 18-22 that disappear for me, but not always. Sometimes when I'm writing about an event I'll forget what I was thinking about or what was going through my mind for 2-3 miles. I know I was there. I know my pace and where I was on the course, but those 20-30 minutes of running just sort of happened with nothing standing out. Maybe we do time travel and our bodies just continue through muscle memory.

If you don't watch LOST then hopefully you can relate to the above and you weren't bored with my post. For those of you that do watch, sorry my analysis was shallow at best, but I feel I have redeemed myself by
supplying a more in depth site for you to enjoy: Get LOST with JOpionionated.

LOST premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.