I can't go into a detailed examination of what this means in terms of existentialism and psyche, or whether you've actually done a workout if no one sees you do it. I'm not quite sure when this transformation took place. I think it started sometime during my senior year of high school, when my peers began to associate me almost naturally with the track team. Certainly by the time I graduated from college, it was solidly set in my mind. I can't think of many other sports in which the activity can be integrated so thoroughly with the person that it becomes a defining characteristic.
People play basketball or tennis, they ride bikes, they go swimming.
Being a runner is a state of mind rather than a level of achievement. Of course I would. It has been a part of me so long that the mindset would long outlast the physical fitness. And you can bet that I would do everything in my power to resume running, no matter what it took. Many years ago I was watching a T.V. show in which one of the characters, a police officer, described her attitude towards her job.