I Recently Fell Back In Love

At some point last year, I fell out of love with running. Well, to be honest, even when I loved it, I hated it. But I had loved it nonetheless. I started lifting more, even dabbled in powerlifting as a sport, and running just became a chore. And I stopped doing it.

And then I took a birthday vacation centered around running the Four Corners Quad Keyah. Four half marathons over four days in four states. Doesn't everyone plan their birthday vacation around running 52.4 miles? No?

I was incredibly out of shape (remember I had all but stopped running). It was incredibly painful. It was incredibly beautiful. And it was just what I needed to fall back in love.

And fall back in love I did.

So I started up again. I was slower than before (and I was already really slow). My breathing was tortured, and my hip was protesting, but I began to remember what I had loved about the hobby I hate so much.

I love this passage from John Bingham's The Courage to Start;
"Beginners can experience the same feelings as veteran runners. It isn't a matter of how long you've been a runner, but of how running can inform your life. If you are open to the lessons of racing, every starting line can be a seminar in becoming yourself.
These lessons can occur at any distance. A 5K race is more than long enough to discover the truth. A 10K race doesn't guarantee twice the revelation, but it gives you time to reflect. And distances beyond the 10K - 15 and 20K's, half marathons, the full marathon - are out there if the answers are buried to deep within you that mining for truth takes longer."

I don't get lost in my thoughts when I run. I don't spend the time in deep self-contemplation.

I listen to music and podcasts and audiobooks. I listen to other people talk (even though I can't talk in return for fear of dying). I fall down. I take pictures. I run into trees and fall down some more. It's not a time of deep reflection.

But this passage did get me thinking about the lessons I have learned from running.

Here are a few  (OK, a few more than a few):

1. I am stronger than I once believed. Slower too. But also stronger.
2. Slow and steady does not win the race. That fucking tortoise lied to us. Slow and steady comes in last or, at minimum, back of the pack. 
3. The back of the pack is where you meet the really fun runners. Seriously, we are the cool kids.
4. The cops who pull me over when driving aren't the only amazing officers out there. The ones who stop traffic for runners and cheer and tell you you're doing a good job even when you look like you're dying are pretty amazing too. 
5. Trees hurt when you run into them. Don't run into them. Really. Don't.
6. Every step in your last mile means you have that much less than a mile to go. The last mile is my favorite mile.
7. They say the first step is the hardest. It's not. Putting on your running shoes is the hardest. Running shoes. I love buying them. I hate putting them on. It is, by far, the hardest step. 
8. You do have to walk before you run. And then walk a little more. And then you take off running. But then there's always more walking. Just embrace it. 
9. Pee happens. Embrace that too.
10. I am a runner. And if you run, you're a runner too. Your pace doesn't matter. Your distance doesn't matter. If you run, you're a runner. Embrace that most of all.

Well, that's it. That's all I've got. They're not deep and philosophical, but at the end of the day, neither am I. 

"Standing at the beginning of a race, alone but united, you can find the quiet peace that comes in knowing that your uniqueness is shared by others. Surrounded by other runners, waiting for the race to begin, you can find a calm confidence in knowing that your individual odyssey is actually just one stone in a mosaic of self-discovery. a mosaic crafted by all those who, like you, have accepted the challenge to overcome the distance set before them, using only their bodies and their will." 

And that reminds me...

      11. Medals are cool. 

      12. I like medals.

      13. A lot.