Why I Love Running

 

 Every once in a while I will be running and have this question come over me, "How did I get here!?"

To which I will giggle internally, and keep going because I love it. 

But the thing is, running is still relatively new to me. I have only been running for four months. 31 years of my life were spent hating working out. I would only work out when I was feeling fat, or had been way to sedentary for too many days and my body ached for movement. Then I would work out for 3 days and give up for 3 months. That is what I have done all of my life. I hated working out. I saw runners and thought they were crazy. 

Now I wake up and want to run every day. Even on my days off I have to talk myself OUT of running so I don't get runner's fatigue. 

I have a lot of time to ponder as I run. And the topic of WHY I like to run has come up during those ponder sessions with myself. 

First and foremost-running is not like working out. It's like playing a game-a game in which you are really only in competition with yourself. You have something to work towards, whether it be race day, or time, or distance. You are constantly working towards something, and it's a game you play with yourself. "Can I beat my last time? Can I go further than I went last time? Can I work towards a race?" And there is no judgment from other racers. We all started at the same place, and everyone understands that everyone is in a different place. You will find nothing but encouragement from other racers.

Second-running is spiritual in nature. Not religious. But internally spiritual. It's time with your mind. And the body does some amazing things. Stuff will start coming up, stuff that you didn't even know was there, forcing you to deal with it, or rejoice in it, or even just acknowledge it. 

There is time to talk with God. 

There is time to look around you and feel elation. The other day I was running in the nature trails near my home, and I was just in awe of the beauty. I started singing "For the beauty of the Earth." I just felt like rejoicing. So I did. 

Third-running changes the way you feel about yourself. I have always thought I had pretty good self esteem. I know who I am. I know I am loved. I know I am important. I have always known those things. But as soon as I started running something clicked in my head. It was this little voice that said, "Necha, anything is possible. You don't need to put restrictions on your life" For the first time in my life, I was proud of myself. I didn't know I wasn't proud of myself before. I didn't feel a hole there. But I have a new sense of "awesome.." -Not in a conceited way. But just in realizing that I did something hard, and that THAT is awesome, and that I can do more, and push myself further. Life is for living, and there is beauty in dreaming. I've always thought having "silly dreams" was flippant. Now I know. Dreaming creates goals. Goals create action, and action creates life. And-

"Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured." -Gordon B. Hinkley 

And that is why I run.