If You Want Amazing Things To Happen To You. Run Alone.
When Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 short story, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” was published and turned into an award-winning film in 1962, running had yet to become the worldwide phenomenon we experience today.
The movie’s hero adopted running as his way of physically and emotionally escaping from life’s realities, and for contemporary runners, that motivation can often be the same.
When you run solo, you’re never really alone.
Isn’t Running Alone Dangerous?
Happily, most solo runners quickly find that there’s no reason to be fearful of running alone. In fact, solo runners tell anyone willing to listen about the joy they experience when they run alone.
In doing so, they escape from a chaotic, confusing world that offers no relief from pressures and stress, finding comfort in the silence or music that accompanies their journeys.
Is it Better to Run Alone or With Someone?
Versatility is another reason solo runners celebrate companion-free time on roads, streets, tracks and even when running races. They’re not obligated to obey someone else’s time schedule, many discover that both their mind and body re-calibrate, and runners regularly tackle weighty issues and problems with new clarity borne of their time alone.
It’s the reason solo runners finish up sweaty, elated and oftentimes euphoric!
Benefits of Running Alone
According to writer Katie Rose Quandt, “Humans have a complicated relationship with being alone. The benefits of solitude are praised by spiritual leaders, philosophers, and artists, and in a recent survey, 85-percent of adults said it’s important to them to spend some time completely alone.”
This psychological reality has been studied by too many researchers to be denied.
Pair those benefits with big doses of the endorphins released by the brain while running that trigger a natural high, and this chemical reaction can change everything about the way you view seemingly unsolvable problems.
In fact, it takes so long for those feel-good chemicals stop flooding the brain and body after running, benefits continue long past one’s natural recovery period.
- There’s no pressure of having to meet up with a run partner at a specific time and place, work schedules aren’t disrupted, nor is one’s social life impacted.
- Participants control their running time while racking up distances and everyone meeting their goal is a winner.
- Online solo races offer benefits few career people can afford to ignore. One can travel on business and pleasure and still amass mileage, and since events like Solo Run give participants weeks to accrue their numbers, there are no barriers to stop men or women from accomplishing their goals.
- Plenty of participants are advantaged because they can switch up their runs, using trails, tracks, urban streets and even treadmills.
- It’s safer to run alone during the pandemic period.
Tips for Running Alone
Running by yourself is fun but safety precautions should be made. Here are some tips for running alone:
- Give yourself some positive self-talk
- Inform someone where you’re running and when will you return
- Choose a well-traveled running route/place and be aware of your surroundings
- Bring along your identification and mobile phone if possible
- Wear visible and comfortable running clothing
- Set a target
- Keep yourself occupied with mental games, listening to music or trying out interval workout
Are solo running events destined to be the wave of the future? For runners who, in the past, grew weary of queues, crowds, race pack collection snafus and other frustrating activities associated with getting to start lines, the answer is clear.
Whether you try solo runs on your own or you are introduced to them, here’s something you will come to realise: When you run solo, you’re never really alone.
What single word best describes the reason you’ve been reluctant to run alone over time?
Can new online running events like the upcoming Solo Run Online Race impact the lives of today’s busy runners? Dramatically so. Get a 10% discount with code: RUNSOCIETY10 to get yourself started.
