Photo of a running track taken while approaching Midway Airport southwest of Chicago.

When you think about it, there’s no real reason the hands of a clock rotate ‘clockwise.’ The same result could be achieved if the hands were to move in the other direction, known as ‘counterclockwise.’ But it’s tradition. So we live with it.

The same goes for the direction we run on a track. That is counterclockwise by tradition. I took a chance and looked up discussion about the reasons why we run in that direction on a track. You might have some fun clicking through to that link. People really bring strange stuff to the table.

There are always weird theories that pop up in such discussions. In case you don’t want to sift through the lot of them, here’s one of the ideas about why we run in a ‘lefterly’ direction from a Quora commentator who…