WHY I RUN
Running does about a hundred different positive things for me.
I have always run. I hope to always run. And I will defend my running almost as fiercely as I’ll defend my food.
When we were pregnant with our 1st kiddo (now 14), my husband and I had a sit down to identify the one thing in each of our lives we needed to keep intact, post baby, to keep us each sane, healthy & happy.
He needed movies. To go to the movies, with popcorn and all. A film maker for 10 years, he needed to continue seeing his “stories” and supporting the industry he had committed his professional life to.
My non-negotiable was running.
Since I was a kid, I have run. My Dad was a runner from his mid-twenties when he was a stock broker in NYC where he’d loop Central Park — the Frank Shorter era. Later, he would trot all of his little chickens out on Daniel’s Park Road in South Denver every summer. He’d pound out 6 miles, and his 4 offspring would scamper behind for 1–2 of those. My Mom would accompany & collect aluminium cans along the way and then we’d all go to Aspen Snowball (a glorified snow cone) to top off the evening. It was magical. He’d do 10k races and sign us up for the fun runs. Running was a bit of a family affair, but I am the only one who has stuck with it.
Though my teens, I’d run intermittently and somewhat grudgingly. My sport at that time was soccer.
Then in college, I spent a year in Galway, Ireland. One of my best friends there was a marathoner. Until that time, I’d been running 3–4 miles, but jumped at the challenge to up my mileage. Running through the stunning Irish countryside made it that much sweeter. We started doing 5, 8, 10, 15, 20 miles in the evening & weekends as we explored our new home.
When I returned to NYC to finish my final college year, I kept training with early morning runs in Riverside & Central Park in pursuit of the Dublin Marathon.
I signed up with Fred’s Team — a charity supporting Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research — and ran my 1st marathon fall of 1993. It was horrible. Painful. Boring. Eternal. And I could barely walk that evening, let alone the next day. But I did it. And I was ready to do it again.
From there I went on to run 7 more marathons — NYC twice, LA, Colfax (Denver), Rock & Roll (Denver), Marine Corps (DC) and London. London was my best time at 3:35 — no idea how I did it. Marine Corps was my last one. I don’t think I’ll do any more, but who knows.
Running is my salvation
This story is not about my running accomplishments, but about what running means to me. And how it is my salvation. My drug. My sanity. Whether I’m doing 0.5 miles or 6 or 26.2. I write in the hope that others will try it. I know it can be a hard sport for some to find love for, but the mental and physical benefits are real.
Running does about a hundred different positive things for me. Here are a few:
- I get outside. In the sun. With the wind in my hair. Or the snow in my eyes. Or the rain on my face. Outside means connection to nature. We are of nature. We need to connect with it every day.
- I breathe heavily. My lungs fill with fresh air. The stale air gets flushed out.
- My heart rate goes up. The body heals when fresh blood flows to and through your muscles, organs, connective tissue & blood vessels. Even just a 5 minute run accomplishes this and gives my body the fresh dose of blood flow that keeps me going for the day.
- I connect with my community. Especially during these crazy times, it is important to see what is happening on your streets. Changes are frequent and rapid.
- I greet my neighbors and say hello. Even if I don’t know them. Especially if I don’t know them. Interestingly, the number of “good mornings” I’ve received since COVID has gone up and down week to week, but each and every one of them is a gift that builds connection and acknowledges each of us.
- I check out. I focus on my breathing and my pace and not tripping and falling on my face and the changing leaves and everything going on around me. So I thankfully don’t have so much brain space to focus on the hamster wheel spinning in my brain. It is meditative.
- A run is a great time to connect with friends. I have a handful of folks I run with regularly — it is always great to catch up and chatting while running makes time go faster.
- My runs are my protected “me time”. Everyone in my family and in my orbit knows I run. NOBODY tries to take it away from me. It is the time I am not a mom, not a boss, not a daughter or sister.
- I ran while pregnant and started back up soon after. My recovery was quick and I returned to pre-baby weight rapidly.
The misconceptions about running:
- You need to go far.
- You need to go fast.
- You need to have the best shoes. (good shoes definitely help, but don’t let that stop you)
- You need to wear a slick running kit.
- You need to do it every day.
- It’ll break your body — most notably your knees. (might — so be careful and (literally) tread lightly)
So my ask — give it a go. Go for a spin around your neighborhood for 5 minutes. Start by walking a minute then moving to a slow jog for a minute. Repeat. Or just go really slow the whole time — barely above your walking pace. Do that for a week. Nothing more. Then the next week, move to 10 minutes. And do that for a week. And keep it going as long as you’d like. Or stop at the spin around the block!
And my favorite pro tip is to pace your breathing. Exhale for 2 steps then inhale for 2 steps. Repeat. Do that, and you can run forever.
Whatever you do, it will benefit you. It will open your mind. It will get your blood flowing. And it will make you feel just that much more alive and vital every day.
