The Bruce Springsteen song that I associate most with running is “No Surrender,” one of several hits from his hugely successful Born in the U.S.A. album.
It’s mainly the first line that speaks to me: “Well we busted out of class/ Had to get away from those fools….” While my own exits from academic buildings rarely are flamboyant enough to qualify as “busting out,” I often get a sense of liberation from breaking into stride after a long day in the lab. It’s a feeling I first noticed as an undergraduate when heading to cross-country practice after organic chemistry.
A recent discussion of the above with my friend Mary led her to send me a pre-JFK good-luck email with a link to a video of a live performance of “No Surrender.” It was an exceedingly apt choice. I had just flown to Washington DC for a five-day ASTMH meeting, but would briefly “bust out” of the conference — having to get away from those geniuses, I suppose — in order to run the race. And considering how the race unfolded, “No retreat, baby, no surrender” was a fitting refrain. Mary’s post-race email didn’t miss a beat: “Greg job Greg! There’s definitely no surrender in you!”
Or, as another Springsteen song might put it: biochemists like me, baby we were born to ruuuun.