How Running Transformed My Relationship With Writing
The symbiotic relationship between the artist and the runner
I was a writer before I was a runner.
Now I’m a runner who writes.
I never thought I’d be a runner, though.
Whenever I saw runners on the streets, huffing, puffing, and sweating but not stopping as if their lives depended on it, I wondered why anyone would put themselves through such pain. What rewards were they getting?
At least when you lift weights, you build muscle that you can flex and get wows, oohs, and aahs. When you learn martial arts, you learn self-defence, and it’s a pretty cool skill to show off, too. “Look, I have a brown belt.”
What do runners have to show?
Nothing much besides the fluctuating numbers on our watches that only make sense to us.
For runners, the win is internal. It’s a personal victory that nobody sees, but we see it. We celebrate it — alone or with others in the community because they’re the only ones who understand.
The battle within
Running gives you a winner’s mindset, a doer’s mindset, a person who pushes through and finishes things mindset. And this mindset seeps into other areas of…
