Learning to Love Running
repost 2015
I heard recently that you can fall in love with a place just as you would fall in love with a person. I’ve been living in this little town in Japan for seven months now and this sentiment feels directed at me. Oda and I have had ups and downs. There has been quarreling and finger pointing, breathless moments of wonder and glimpses of beauty, and then more struggles and setbacks as I try to navigate in this new place.
The moments where I’m humbled by it’s beauty, it’s unique quirks, and undying kindness have come in all shapes and sizes. But something that has helped me particularly focus on these interactions, has come from a new habit: running.
Running started not because of dieting, or strength-training, weight-loss or boredom (even though all of those would have been good reasons to start sooner). I began running because as winter descended, I had no heater, and I was freezing. I had to do something to be warm and walking wasn’t going to cut it. So I laced up my shoes, popped in a podcast, and ran along the river. The podcast was great at making me forget that I was running. When I came home I was warm and informed on the week’s news. Doubly whammy.
After a few weeks of this, I suddenly and unexpectedly loved running. It allowed lungs full of fresh air after sitting in a desk all day. I finally caught up and surpassed my list of podcasts. I had a chance, daily, to admire the mountains or the sea, finding them by foot, earning them after a steady rhythm of right foot- left foot- right foot. I love taking the side roads in-between rice paddies and catching farmers finishing planting as the sun sets. I love the beautiful places that I can run through. Running has put me in the thick of the town and made me fall in love with the smallest details of its beauty.
After a particularly difficult and sad winter, running became not only a distraction from the cold, but a cathartic exercise. Running, along with doing yoga focusing on creating space in your body, helped me process those difficult things. It is important to physically push out the grief which manifests itself in deep parts of your body (particularly around your heart and in your hips, interestingly enough.) You can untuck and dislodge that heaviness and breath fresh air into those places, opening yourself up to let light in.
Running has always been an activity that I have loathed. I would refuse to run so far as the mailbox because, as I’ve been known to say, I don’t hate myself. Now I’m realizing the beauty of running. As a friend explained to me, we always let our minds go on long and wonderful journeys, why not extend that right to our bodies? How good does it feel to read a book, solve a puzzle, speak with loved ones across continents. Imagine giving our bodies the freedom to move like that.
Sometimes running is as simple feeling warm on a particularly cold day. But it also has the power, if you let it, if you push past the loathing, to allow you to breath in fresh air, push grief right out of those hips, and fall in love with the cities and fields that you run through. I’m grateful to have stumbled upon this new hobby. And even though a new heater has been installed and even though I still don’t hate myself, I’ll continue running. Journeying a little further physically as I push my mind to new horizons.
