Running...

I'm asked...on a daily basis almost, why I'm so addicted to running, why I run, why do I 'hate' my body so much. I don't typically have a great answer...usually something to the effect that it gives me quiet time or it is much like therapy or I just need to keep moving. I read an article today that I totally identified with...ok, not all of it, but it explains a lot about my running addiction...

"I’ve learned that I associate running with my best self. When I go through a dry spell, not training, it indicates that the rest of my life is a little messy or worn down. Running strips away something like what Virginia Woolf called “the cotton wool of everyday life” so that there is nothing between my intimate insides and the air and light and landscape unfurling under my sneaker treads. It’s release through motion."

Basically saying that I'm truly myself when I'm running. Even when I struggle with a workout or have unknown pain I still am the best version of me and I strive to be that person more and more often. I want to be the best version of myself more that I want to be identified otherwise. I encourage people to come run with me...not sure if I want them to see the best version of themselves, or if I want them to witness the best version of me; it is probably a combination of both. So there it is...that is why I run!

"My husband teases me about my obsession with running: the blogs, the books, the GPS watch, the shoes, the fartleks, the ice bath, and the tapers. These are the trappings of a cultish devotion, a way to burrow deeper into an identity that I am breathlessly gleeful and grateful to claim: that of a runner."

I'm not sure I could have said this any better myself...People shake their heads at me when I say I'll just go for a run or I need a hill workout etc...or they joke that they will join me. They don't yet understand the 'cultish devotion' that keeps me coming back! They don't understand that the sore muscles and tight ligaments are a sort of badge of honor that I wear proudly. And that is why I keep going back...week after week, day after day.

So, yes, I could say it is the therapy and the quiet time away from everything and the hope and the challenge of running further and faster. And, yes, there is gratification and emotion when you finish a race for a few seconds the world is a fabulous place and meeting goals has its perks.

There you have it...that is why I run!