I’m running, taking two beats worth of breath into my nose, then slowly blowing it out through my mouth. I close my eyes. I feel the pound of my feet on the pavement, the warm caress of the sun hitting my face, and the cool fall breeze twisting the hairs around my face and delicately whispering against my skin, raising goosebumps and a light shiver as tiny beads of sweat cool. I breathe in and smell exhaust as a car passes, causing me to jump to the side of the road,
wrinkling my nose at the unpleasant lung-full of smog. I let it out. Breathing in again, I can both smell and taste the crispness of the pine crushed at my feet. I close my eyes again and am transported to the countless trails I hiked summer after summer in Colorado, opening my stride as I feel the same gliding sense of freedom.
Opening them again, I look down at my reddened legs, the muscles contracting and releasing as a take another stride, a droplet of sweat rushing from my face to the pavement, as though it wanted to be a part of the action. I watch my shoes hit the sidewalk, and hear the soft crunch of the tread against the concrete. Suddenly my watch chirps, making a small chiming noise to let me know we’ve reached mile 7. I breathe deeply and lick my dried lips enough to smile without them cracking, reveling in the knowledge that I’ve come so far, but will continue to carry myself down the same streets, unsatisfied until I leap across the mental hurdle of a 9-mile finish line. And thus, I run.
…
Much is to be said of these sensations, they shape my world, my experience, and my memory. The senses are what make people remember, and how people relate. One of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou is “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” This quote is my entire philosophy on how marketing and public relations should work, and it’s honestly the reason that I’m currently pursuing that career path. Too often I feel like I’m getting sold to, but what actually convinces me that a product is worthwhile is connecting feeling or memory through sensation to it.
In describing what it feels like to run, I want to bring people with me, to show them what can be gained, seen, and felt. Sure, exercise helps physical fitness, but more than that it allows time for reflection, brings about a sense of achievement and pride, and forces me to push my mental, as well as physical, limits, but a reader should not have to be told these things in order to understand them. Advertising executed in such a way can be much more effective than any list of the benefits of a product.
My point here: as a consumer, I want to be shown, not told.
The Transition Artist 