Dear Editor,
I am a midnight runner. And being such, I wish to respond to the rather erroneous and (need I say it) typically male comments made in last Tuesday's viewpoint, 'Thanks Midnight Runner.' Dave Johnson asserted that the BYU female runner 'throw caution
to the wind...in pursuit of the perfect body.' As important--or lamentably obligatory--as the flawless feminine physique seems to be, it is not necessarily the impetus behind our late night sprints on 'darkened tree streets.' Rather, the evening jog serves as a metamorphic moment when the over-stressed, over-worked, over-idealized LDS woman can transmogrify, becoming a sort of inverse Cinderella--shedding her modest, yet sexy, prim, yet stylish apparel to become the racing belle of University Avenue. It is a moment of supreme triumph when the paradoxical Mormon female can temporarily cast aside the duties of housekeeper, chef, student, saint, and bombshell, to become the gold medal sprinter of her personal Olympics.
One more misconception to shatter. Running surface streets in Provo is hardly 'throwing caution to the wind.' In fact, it is often much safer than other exercise options offered to the over-scheduled student. I believe it was 'Runner's World' magazine that commented, 'play it safe?running on surface streets and other non-isolated areas is the best solution for the late night runner.' For the busy BYU female who cannot break her day with a trip to Gold's Gym (which is another chauvinist travesty in itself), running on surface streets is the best available option.
Carolyn Deverich
Irvine, Calif.