National Running Day

Who doesn't run on National Running Day? Me, that's who.  I had big plans to take Evan on an easy run for his first of many National Running Day celebrations.  Then Oklahoma weather happened.  We did run into Target, does that count?

So instead, lets discuss why it is exactly thar I run.  I run to make new friends.  I run to lose weight.  I run because at a very young age, my parents told me I should.  I run to wear cute clothes (fist pump for spandex!).  But mostly, I run for me.  To challenge myself.  To reward myself.  To escape from everyday life.  To find out what I am capable of.  To make everything else in life seem just a little bit easier.

I read an article this evening in Runner's World that describes perfectly the experience of running.

If you run long enough, you'll do so in every conceivable way.  You'll run smart and stupid, fast and slow, short and long, in good weather and bad, with dogs, with friends, with children, alone, on a full stomach and nearly starving, in fancy shoes and old beaters, on college tracks and over mountains, on country roads and city streets.  Identical runs will be easy one day, gueling the next.  You'll have long runs that fly by, short ones that grind on forever.  One day the syrupy waffle bogs you down, the next day it fuels that final sprint. 

(the article was written by Marc Parent.  Read it!) 

Marc goes on to explain how running inspires. 

The first person you have to inspire everyday is yourself.  Running will do that.  We're all terrible at something.  Why not make up for it with a strenuous completely unrelated activity?  When you are nothing but a slob at your desk, you can instantly turn yourself around with a quick run.  I've never been in a ditch so low that a run would't pop me out of it.

Love that last line. Running has become like an old trusted friend.  She will pick you up when you're feeling down, push you because she knows you are capable of more, and pace quietly along side of you when she knows all you need is a little comfort.  I run because I can't imagine not.