Running. The very thought of the most ancient of human endeavours brings dread to many, and yet, there are those who run for fun. Crazy! When I started running when I was 8 years old at my local Parkrun, it was more an obligation to doing something on the weekend with my dad. And now, more than a decade on, running is one of the biggest parts of life and as I think about this now, my identity. This is not to say that I am elite by any means, but I’d like to think that I’ve gotten to the point where I can call myself a “runner”.
I’m not here to preach some cultish idea that running will change your life and the health benefits are incredible and that you’ll live for a hundred years if you start running. But what I am here to say is that there is a runner in all of us.
All of us.
Yes, of course, running has its obvious health benefits, it has its social benefits, and the feeling of accomplishment no matter how far or how long we went out for today. But running is hard. Running sucks. Be that the weather screaming at you to stay inside (where it’s much drier, much warmer, or in summer, much cooler), or the feeling that we’re “too busy” to go out for a worthwhile amount of time.
But the shower after a rainy run is better than you’ve ever had before. The 15 minutes we had to run a seemingly insignificant amount, is 15 minutes more than staying at home not running. More often than not, the hardest step is the first one. If we were to imagine telling ourselves to run for just 2 minutes, we’ll have overcome this initial obstacle and we may as well continue with our muscles warm and brains now focused and ready to continue the obvious step is to just keep going.
But why? To be honest, as I continue this ramble, I don’t know. Why do I run?
On a personal level? Aside from it being the way I keep myself fit - because there are thousands of ways to keep oneself fit - there is a strange part of me that genuinely enjoys the sport. Is it the shoes? The obsession with the latest in shoe technology. The new shoe feeling that tricks our brains into thinking that we can run faster, or that running is all of a sudden easy. Well maybe, but that doesn’t last. New shoes become “just” shoes and eventually old shoes. Is it the outdoors? Partly. Getting closer now. There’s the ability to move from point A to point B, or in most cases, a loop that returns us to point A while traversing through different terrain and scenery (unless you run around a track in which case you’re a psychopath and I don’t need to convince you to run more). Yeah, I like that. Sometimes when I forget to be in pain, I can look up and take in my surroundings or if the sunset is particularly beautiful, that takes my mind off things.
Running is a clear visualisation of our progress as a human.
“The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life”
David Goggins shows us something about what the body is capable of. What I take from this is the power of the indomitable human spirit. Sure, when we run, there’s no vicious animal chasing us (hopefully). But there is something within ourselves. A call to prove ourselves when the time comes. Be this a race, training, or even all the activities that surround running. The way we fuel, hydrate, and rest become as important and from all these things, we grow. We often hear that running extends your life or things to that effect. But it’s all the habits that runners develop that aid this just as much. By sleeping better we can add up to 4.7 years of lifespan. By drinking enough water we develop fewer chronic conditions like heart and lung disease. By eating a balanced diet, we reject a diet of solely unhealthy foods because in order for us to run, we must fuel properly.
So back to Goggins. Back to Kipchoge. Back to you. Running isn’t easy. But good things rarely are.
And travel. Running allows us to travel. Obviously, when we run outside, we move our bodies around our neighbourhood or local running route. But I’ve often found that when I travel, the best way to get a gauge of what our new environment has to offer is by going on a morning run. Before the hustle and bustle of daily life, being able to watch a city wake up has a sort of magical feeling that you get to explore the quiet moments of what would otherwise be a bustling space. And this doesn’t mean that you should forgo relaxing on your holiday. Even 15 minutes around a park in Korea will make you appreciate that these super built up cities still have nature that the locals, and now you, can appreciate. Plus, who doesn’t love being able to put a new country on their proverbial Strava map. And it does make all the delicious food and drinks that the rest of the day promises nearly guilt-free.
What happens when motivation lacks? Hmmm. Well Atomic Habits would tell you that we’d have to remove friction. So have all your running kit ready and visible the night before. The 2-minute rule tells us that we should step outside. Run for two minutes, and if today really isn’t the day, we can stop. Turn around and go home. I think that with almost certainty, you’ll just keep running. The hardest step is the first but even harder is quitting when you’ve already started.
Fun fact about my writing process. If you can call random thoughts on a page a process. I write for about 15 minutes a week and then after four weeks, I can call that a month and magically, another ramble is published on the internet for all eternity. I’m sure one day I’ll run out of good ideas and there’ll be an On Writing post. Back to our regularly scheduled writing. As I pick my thoughts up again about running and try not to repeat myself, I think about the social piece I wrote about way back in the third paragraph. And this isn’t about a magic run club that suddenly makes running fun and worse yet, gets you out of bed on a weekend to seize the weekend before we test the limits of another coffee shop.
I’m thinking more so about the people in my life. Be it my friends or family, I have always been the “runner” in those circles. Though I am glad that my whole family now runs in one way or another, at the very least for leisure (my mother took much more convincing), I think of my friends. The people my age. The ones, anyway, who see running as an auxiliary activity. Something to do to support some other endeavour. Soccer. Cardio for the balanced gym-bro. Netball. Whatever it is, running supports that. And hey, I said before I’m not here to preach some silly idea that running is the closest thing we get to Nirvana. I’m glad that they run. I’m happy that they keep themselves moving and that I’ll be able to see them live to a reasonable age. I think I’m being dramatic here.
While I wish that every one of my friends one day completes a marathon (this here is the closest I’ve ever gotten to Nirvana), I’m very happy when running becomes a shared joy. Perhaps not at the time. Perhaps I’ll never hear a thank you for dragging my very much non-runner friend out of bed. But I remember a particular City 2 Surf in Sydney where I was pleasantly surprised to see a friend take on Heartbreak Hill. The Runner in all of us. I have very fond memories of an ex-friend of mine (long story) who paid me the highest order of compliment that I was actually quite pleasant when I was coaching or running, and that I really did have a supportive and empathetic streak somewhere hidden deep inside me. This, I took seriously and managed to remain entirely positive and pleasant when pacing another very good friend to a 10k PB - though she will never hear it from me, I think this was harder for me than for her efforts.
While I like to think I’m not some evil, cynic sonofagun, I do think that running brings out the best in me. Maybe. When we run, there are no sides. It’s just you against you out there. Whether it’s an easy run. A parkrun. A race. There’s just you out there. And I think that there’s something beautiful that we can see. It’s a game. Life’s a game. And while we run, the game slows down and there’s nothing better than living life.
So what next? Lace up your shoes. Go for a run.