I’m often asked/told…
“Why do you run so much?”
“I wish I could run but I have (insert malady here)”
“I’m not a natural runner like you”
“My body is just not made for that”
“running is easy for people like you”
Etc…
I normally just reply with something like
“you can do it too if you want to”
I normally leave it at that.
If any of them ever stop and ask… and act like they really want to know.
I could tell them all the reasons I shouldn’t be a runner:
1. I have asthma
2. And a leaky heart valve
3. Flat feet
4. I’m a single parent
5. I have a busy job
I could go on to tell them why… and how I do run
How the world looks passing by at 6 miles per hour
Starting a run in the dark… then seeing feeling… hearing… and smelling the world wake up around me
How cool it is to be moving in rhythm to a killer song on the iPod
All of the crazy/cool/interesting things I’ve seen and found while running
Or how it feels to bonk… when the mind wills the body forward… and the body lifts it’s middle finger but otherwise does not respond.
The seemingly trivial challenges (run the next mile in 7:30 or less) that I attempt and how those make my mind and body stronger whether they be failure or success
How it feels to run fast… faster than you ever thought possible for a given distance… and do… no become what you thought was impossible
I might even feel comfortable enough to tell them that even now… after all the marathons, ultra-marathons, years of running, thousands of miles… I often doubt myself… and am unsure if I can complete my run for the day… but in the end I always put on my shoes and head out the door anyway.
But… it doesn’t matter…. I don’t think they really want to hear any of that anyway.
2 comments:
Of course they dont want to hear it, because they dont think like us, getting out the door is 90% of the battle, I love your reasons for running.
Well said! It's easy to talk people's ears off about all the great things and how to get started running, but if they aren't interested in taking that next step (pun intended), none of it matters. If it were painless or effortless, everyone would do it. It says a lot about a person when they are willing to seek inner challenges by defying the odds.
Sometimes I think about how many aspects of life others miss by not seeing the world the way we do and I feel sorry. Only after seeing it when propelled by oneself is one truly able to respect and appreciate nature.
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