Impatience + Competitiveness / Success x Benefits = Running

Because I don’t currently have access to my less-than-stellar training specs from last week, I’ll have to skip that portion of this post (dry those eyes, everyone), and instead focus on something altogether more meaningful: why I run.

Let’s set our scene: imagine a 6-year old with a face full of freckles and a sort of dirty blonde (but quickly approaching "just plain brown") afro. Now imagine that same child with seemingly boundless energy (so much so that he was asked to be a student in the inaugural Pre-First class, a made-up grade falling in between Kindergarten and 1st Grade for those showing the inability to sit still long enough to move on).



As you might imagine, asking an already-excitable kid to essentially retake Kindergarten (which sort of makes it sound like I flunked it, doesn’t it? How depressing) probably wasn’t too stimulating to the old brain pan. In fact, as close as I can remember, Pre-First was really just one long recess. So we’ll say that’s where I first began to hone my endurance. It’s probably nothing more than a well-told lie (one based upon the random, broken images of a 6-year old), but I feel it works well as a sort of foundation for the remainder of my tale.

Truth be told, I think I’ve always liked running, but never realized it until just recently. Even to this day, whenever my mom asks me to “run to the car” as a figure of speech, I take it as an excuse to do so literally—not because I’m too thick-headed to realize the difference, but because it’s something I enjoy. It just so happened that eventually, “to the car” wasn’t far or often enough. But why? For one thing, I’ll readily admit that some of my running is/was borne out of impatience—why take 5 minutes to get somewhere when you can take 4 and enjoy an extra minute at your destination? I also like surprising people with my speed; yes, fine sir, you did just get beaten by an unassuming sort of fellow with bird legs and "just plain brown" hair. And I’m good at it. That helps (quite a bit), too. But, while those all factor in to my running equation, the fact remains that I run because I like to. I like pushing my body and being surprised how far it will take me. I like getting lost in the sights, smells and feel of a run—being the only person in the world to experience some of nature’s little idiosyncrasies is a wonderful, wonderful thing (and very cathartic). Factor in the ability of running to keep me fitting into my clothing and it’s a win/win situation.

Impatience + Competitiveness / Success x Benefits = Running

March of Dimes 5k Shamrock Run this Friday at 6:00 PM EST. I sincerely hope that, at approximately 6:16:30 I still feel as positively about running. Also, I'm seriously considering running an ultra marathon or 24-hour race later in the year. More on that, later.