Fitness? Competition? Meditation? What is your reason for running?
At 46 years old, weight maintenance and fitness. I still get that runner’s (more like jogger’s) Would love to get back to races, but keep having niggles.
Fitness? Competition? Meditation? What is your reason for running?
I'm going to answer in a counterintuitive way: by describing how it feels NOT to run.
Eight weeks ago, on a cool sunny Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, age 67, I ran a solid 10-miler along the levee. First mile at 10:30, last mile at 8:30, with every mile a little faster than the last. A perfect progression run, fruit of a summer's training and a handful of 5Ks. I felt strong, grooved, centered--both during the run and for the rest of the day. The run offered a quiet, meditative space; a chance to work with my body in a wise and constructive way. When you get a long progression run right, you feel as if you're accumulating power as you go. There's no other athletic endeavor I know where that's the case. It's complete self-possession. It's a feeling of power.
Four days later, after spending ten minutes raking leaves off my house's front gutters with a big plastic leaf rake held high over my head, I seriously damaged one or more of my cervical discs. C6, C7, and T1.
I haven't run a single step since. Every day is a negotiation with pain, to a greater or lesser extent. I can't bike. I can't walk very far before the nerve pain starts in behind my left shoulder and my right arm starts to numb up.
Now, seven and a half weeks down the line, I am fully deconditioned. My resting HR has risen from the low 50s to the mid 60s. I've gained three pounds, despite weighing in every morning and trying to regulate my intake. I'll probably need an operation. (Percutaneous discectomy is the phrase of the day.
Not being able to run, believe it or not, isn't my first thought. I just want to feel pain-free and not broken. I just want the clear head that running gives me. I just want SOME sense that the long nightmare is over. Then I will know what to do. I've done the comeback-trail thing more than a few times. I know how to train myself. All I want is the chance to say, "Here is the bottom. Now I will become a runner again."
That perfect 10-miler, two months ago, epitomizes what I love about running. But how I'm feeling right now, deprived of my daily run, hopelessly detuned--a couch potato of necessity--speaks even more eloquently to what running means to me. It's a way of life, a way of organizing the day, a way of plugging into the world, a way of patiently earning self-ownership, and a way of clearing my head. When you take all that away, you've lost a lot.
I like it. I'm good at it. And when I do it, I am alive.
fair for me too...makes me feel alive. And being in a corral with 5,000 people and knowing you can beat 4,900 of them in an athletic competition...well that's pretty fun.
As most have already said, it sets up my day nicely and I always feel better after doing it. Its a great way to get out and enjoy God's beautiful world. There's beauty is running through sunshine, rain, snow, leaves ect.
”Let’s not make things more difficult than they have to be. Sports can be a waste of time, a wasteland of vice, or an oasis of God-glorifying people and principles. It depends on what you make it.” - Kevin DeYoung
It’s all depending on your worldview. Sports are either self exalting in purpose or God glorifying, depending on if you are your own “god” or you serve the one true God.
Fitness? Competition? Meditation? What is your reason for running?
I'm going to answer in a counterintuitive way: by describing how it feels NOT to run.
Eight weeks ago, on a cool sunny Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, age 67, I ran a solid 10-miler along the levee. First mile at 10:30, last mile at 8:30, with every mile a little faster than the last. A perfect progression run, fruit of a summer's training and a handful of 5Ks. I felt strong, grooved, centered--both during the run and for the rest of the day. The run offered a quiet, meditative space; a chance to work with my body in a wise and constructive way. When you get a long progression run right, you feel as if you're accumulating power as you go. There's no other athletic endeavor I know where that's the case. It's complete self-possession. It's a feeling of power.
Four days later, after spending ten minutes raking leaves off my house's front gutters with a big plastic leaf rake held high over my head, I seriously damaged one or more of my cervical discs. C6, C7, and T1.
I haven't run a single step since. Every day is a negotiation with pain, to a greater or lesser extent. I can't bike. I can't walk very far before the nerve pain starts in behind my left shoulder and my right arm starts to numb up.
Now, seven and a half weeks down the line, I am fully deconditioned. My resting HR has risen from the low 50s to the mid 60s. I've gained three pounds, despite weighing in every morning and trying to regulate my intake. I'll probably need an operation. (Percutaneous discectomy is the phrase of the day.
Not being able to run, believe it or not, isn't my first thought. I just want to feel pain-free and not broken. I just want the clear head that running gives me. I just want SOME sense that the long nightmare is over. Then I will know what to do. I've done the comeback-trail thing more than a few times. I know how to train myself. All I want is the chance to say, "Here is the bottom. Now I will become a runner again."
That perfect 10-miler, two months ago, epitomizes what I love about running. But how I'm feeling right now, deprived of my daily run, hopelessly detuned--a couch potato of necessity--speaks even more eloquently to what running means to me. It's a way of life, a way of organizing the day, a way of plugging into the world, a way of patiently earning self-ownership, and a way of clearing my head. When you take all that away, you've lost a lot.
This is one of the saddest posts I've ever read on Letsrun. I hope you heal up, old man, and find your power again.
I turn 50 next year. I'll have a 2-year-old and a newborn.
I used to run for the competition (the clock). Now I run for capacity. I need to be durable enough to carry them, chase them, and keep up with them for the next 20 years.
Plus, it’s just my nature. If I don't run, the machine rusts. It's just who I am.
This is one of the saddest posts I've ever read on Letsrun. I hope you heal up, old man, and find your power again.
I'm glad it resonated with you. I'll be back. One thing fifty years as a runner teaches you is to play the long game. There's a lot of fight left in me. I'll keep on pushing.
I've been running less and less. Down to 3 runs a week, but still averaging 4-5 hours. Have tendonosis all over the place and am chronically tired on most runs. Also no longer enjoy running around the local area. Age 37. Also regressed back to 18 in the 5k which frustrates me, so I don't bother racing much either. Started running at 30/31... I can't remember. Been thinking about replacing almost all runs with cross training. I feel like running beats me down now rather than improves my health.
The best days I have had in a long successful life have been race days. And there have been lots of those! That euphoria from a good race . . . where else can you find that? Your wedding day maybe, or the birth of a child, events that are few and far between. But I can toe the line at will.