The American runner Dean Karnazes once wrote: "The race ends, the run doesn't", thus expressing the self-image of a movement that goes far beyond competitions and leaderboards.
Anyone can run anywhere.
Corona did not stop running either.
On the contrary: when sports halls and fitness studios were closed, many returned to the crisis-resistant pure form of sport.
And yet it was a time of suffering for many runners too.
Their movement became invisible.
Marathons and fun runs all over the world have been canceled, running has become what it really is only in gray theory: an individual sport.
Starting shot of the running season
That was finally over on Sunday.
With blue skies and sunshine, the "Frankfurter Lunden" gave the unofficial start of the running season in the city, which has running in its DNA.
Even if the first major running event of this year was probably the last - or perhaps because of it - it was an important signal.
While you could watch the professional footballers kicking in lockdown, popular sport fell by the wayside for a long time.
He has slowly returned.
Nevertheless, the year on the Main would have ended almost without a big run.
It is all the better that a group of running enthusiasts brought the event to life and implemented it in a very short time with the help of authorities and sponsors.
You shouldn't understand it as a competitive event, even if not everyone was happy with the time, a week before the virtual Frankfurt Marathon.
Instead of looking for the supposed losers of the event, one should be happy for the winners: the many people who clearly enjoyed running together again.
Their message was as simple as their sport: running doesn't end!