Appreciation for Running
Thank you for everything you’ve taught me over the years. You’ve helped me reach amazing highs and heights along with pushing me to climb out of deep valleys. As life continues to change, you have been a constant in my life that brings both stimulation and serenity. You constantly challenging me to be stronger in all facets of life. Everyday, I appreciate the ability to lace up and feel the pavement under my feet! Even in the worst weather, mood, or motivation level, you’ve taught me that I will never regret getting started and will always be rewarded with endorphins. =)
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I’ve considered myself a runner for the past 15 years and am still learning and growing. Limits are made to be broken in both sport and on the personal level! From Usain Bolt shattering the 100m world record with a 9.58 in 2009 to the Mo-bot (Mo Farah) dominating mid-distance track in the 2010 olympics. It’s exciting to see how far we can push the limits of the human body and ourselves. Stay tuned for the quest to break the Sub-2 marathon on May 7th (Nike’s Breaking 2 project)!
As much as I love running, there are times where I’ve hated it. And that’s how relationships work, they take commitment to be successful. Luckily, running holds no grudges and has always welcomed me back.
My most memorable “F*ck running” experience was rolling my ankle 3.5 hours into a 50k trail race (slipping on the backside of Cardiac in the Marin Headlands). With about a 13 miles and 3000 ft of climbing left, it took another 5.5 hours and a healthy amount of athletic tape to avoid the dreaded DNF. During those finishing miles, I never wanted to run for sport ever again… or so I thought.
There’s a funny thing about endurance runners. When the numbness goes away, the post race QWOP stride subsides, and the hunger for real food is satisfied, we quickly forget about the pain and start look for the next challenge. We start missing the calm that running brings and the satisfying sensation of post workout soreness. The feeling of tuning out the rest of the world and focusing on where to plant your next stride. It keeps us coming back again and again! (And the same 50k was completed without injury the following year.)
Endurance racing isn’t for everyone, but it was one of the best challenges I’ve had the pleasure to undergo. At the very least, I tell myself it was plenty of character building. Although I don’t have any long races in my near future, this year’s goal is to improve in the mile and 5k. Looking forward to sharing the training logs!
