Emotional Running Part 1: Envy, Awe, and Admiration
In The Examined Run, philosopher Sabrina Little takes a chapter to discuss how emotions affect running. Runners need to be highly aware of their emotions as they can affect a race as much as other runners or environmental factors. And your emotional state also affects your training. I’ll discuss some of the emotions runners encounter and how they affect me in my running.
Being Envious
Little spends a fair amount of time in her chapter on emotions discussing envy. If you are running just for your health, it is unlikely that you spend much time envious of other runners. You may see other runners and wish you looked more like them or could run as easily as they do, but you are probably not envious of them in the same way you are of runners who finish ahead of you in races.
When we race against other runners, we often compare ourselves to those competitors, especially those who are faster. In her book, Little brings up the quote, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” When we make these comparisons, it is usually out of envy. Why do we do this?
Little points out that comparing ourselves to other runners takes the joy out of running. If I ran the best race I could and ran it with integrity, then I shouldn’t worry that someone ran it faster than I did. There is always going to be…
