“I drive on her streets
‘Cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills
‘Cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and
She kisses me windy”
Under The Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Growing up, Under The Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a song that really caught my attention. In fact as a teenager it was one of the first songs I heard that had this effect. Later on when I learnt to play the guitar, this one I eagerly spent a lot of time learning to play it (unfortunately my signing ability, or lack of, does not do it justice -please do not ask me to play it publicly!), I must say that two decades later, the song still holds a certain power over me. It is only more latterly that I have begun to make an attempt to try to understand this effect but in terms of my attraction to running (substitute the words ‘drive’ & ‘walk’ in the lyrics with ‘running’). There is a scene in the music video of Anthony Kiedis running, so you could say I have been ’primed’ to associate this song with running…
Coming from Dublin’s Northside, I use to look out over at the Dublin and Wicklow mountains and see just mountains. Now after a few seasons of IMRA mountain running races I don’t just see a skyline, I see The Sugar Loaf, Seefingan, Scalp, and so forth. These are now all places I have been to and run in and around. I have a more intimate knowledge and experience of being in and traversing these places. Now when I see the shapes of familiar hills, it cues recollections of knowing how to make my way around, which direction to go, I can travel with a sense of purpose, and curiosity to see what has changed, altered or remained the same. The more I run in the hills, the more I feel engaged with the environment. What is it about running in hill races that create stories, aka race reports? They say your identity is what you do, and I have grown into the role of being a hill runner. I don’t feel I own the hills, but these journeys in the hills have created a lot of stories for me.
There is a book by J Edward Chamberland titled ‘If this is your land, where are your stories?’. The title question is one that was posed by Native Indians in British Columbia to Canadian officials who were claiming land for the government. The Gitksan people have a lived experience of their land, and this lived experience can be shared and expressed through stories. The Gitksan could not comprehend officials claiming land without this lived experience. I have stories of my shared experiences (often with up to 200-odd other race entrants) in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains and I have shared some of them in the form of race reports on the IMRA site. I feel a certain, not ownership but association by identity with the shared experiences of events & journeys on the hills. Past race reports can be quite useful to find out what to expect on particular races. Could there be a link here in this idea with Under The Bridge lyrics, particularly the lines quoted above? My conclusion is that I need to research and develop this idea further….
murchubrian 