Entertainment and Running

This entry is somewhat related to my previous post on race entry fees.  I wrote the following in response to a Fast Running Blog discussion topic on the Deseret News 10k (probably the most popular and most competitive 10k in Utah) and the associated race fee.  I have edited it so it makes more sense to the reader here, to include a little more depth (or long-windedness), and to cut out things I said in my previous post.

 The most frequent question I get asked by non-runners in some variation when they find out I spend 1.5-4 hours per day running, 6 days per week is, "How do you keep from getting bored?"  I am utterly at a loss as to how to answer this question.  I haven't yet come up with an answer that satisfies anyone (including myself).  It's something you have to do to understand, I suppose.

This begs the question: Is the need to be constantly entertained, even while exercising or competing, a function of our culture as it relates to our dependency upon being constantly connected to some form of entertainment?  Is it a possible explanation for the growing trend of "party races" and "mud runs" with extremely high race fees?

I think I am probably somewhat of an anomaly among my peers.  I'm only 24 years old, yet my family never had TV growing up to speak of, outside of the occasional family VHS movie night in front of our 1976 Zenith turn-dial TV.  Going to grandma's house was always exciting because she actually had cable! When we finally got dial-up internet when I was in Jr. High, it was used almost exclusively for school--Facebook was only a few years previous a twinkle in Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerberg's eye.  I can still only barely navigate an XBox.  I spent my free time outside in our backyard, out in the desert, or with friends doing more of the same, as those were really about the only options, yet I always managed to find plenty to do. 

This is really almost exactly what our TV looked like

In contrast, today the average person over the age of 5 is connected almost without interruption to the latest news, entertainment, music, and other sources of information and diversion via some ever-present electronic device.  To a degree, I have also become part of this trend, although I have yet to see the need to buy a smart phone or tablet PC, and I don't even have a working mp3 player at the moment.

 
This is not to say I don't use technology or entertainment--I am the unofficial family IT guy (I've recently converted everyone in my family besides my brother to Linux), and am in the process of learning to build my own computer.  I'm also well above average in my ability to navigate and make use of the internet and/or social media, and I enjoy movies and some TV shows as much as anyone.  The difference is mostly in the amount of extraneous entertainment I was exposed to as a kid.

I seem to notice that most people who grew up in a similar circumstance as I did, like me seem to be able to let go of those things easily and embrace a more "primitive" form of entertainment.  As a possible result of this effect, I am almost never bored while running.  I have never felt the need to even bring my iPod along on my run.  On familiar runs, I'm usually lost in my own head solving world problems (or just my own) or seeing just how hard I can push myself when appropriate.  When I'm on a new run, it's as if I'm a kid again going on some adventure and finding some cool new place to explore, camp, or just see.  In a race, I'm constantly occupied with pushing my limits, assessing my condition, sizing up the competition, etc.  I don't understand boredom while running, which is why I can't explain to people how I avoid it.  I simply don't experience it.

Do my experiences as a child and adolescent pertaining to entertainment set me apart from my peers in my ability to be "entertained" while running without overt extraneous stimuli?  Are other runners like me also influenced in the same manner by similar experiences in their earlier years?  Does an ability to find ways to engage one's mind while running (you could throw in swimming, biking, etc) make it easier for one to become a "competitive" runner by allowing one to "bypass" some of the mental effects of physical attrition?  And finally, is the growing popularity of expensive "party races" related to a trend in the amount of external entertainment people are exposed to as they grow up, and possible resultant psychological need for external stimuli while engaged in a repetitive task like running?  These are questions which I would really like to know the answers to.  They are probably also applicable in many other facets of life (such as school, employment, etc.)  Obviously, childhood entertainment habits are not the only factor, but it's something to consider.