I’ve always thought writers were meticulous planners. The kind who map out every chapter, every scene, every twist before they ever put pen to page.

Then I read On Writing by Stephen King.

King doesn’t write that way. He doesn’t believe in plotting out a book from start to finish. Instead, he talks about putting a character in a situation and letting the story reveal itself. To him, the best stories aren’t scripted — they evolve, scene by scene, as you write.

That surprised me. I assumed a writer as prolific as King would have every beat accounted for. Instead, he shows up every morning, fills the page, and lets the story guide him. The story, he says, is the boss.

The more I thought about it, the more I recognized the same lesson in running.

Most of us approach running like a campaign. We pick a race. We set a goal. We draw a map from here to the finish line. I’ve been that person — plotting splits, planning every mile, chasing a race goal down to the second.

But at some point, the best running — like the best writing — happens when you let the story lead. When you show up, put one foot in front of the other, and listen to where the run wants to go. It’s in those moments that running becomes more than a script. It becomes a discovery.