Why I Love to Run.

Paul and I were talking about this a couple days ago, and I think it begs to be said: I love to run. Don't get me wrong. I have good days, and I have bad days. I'm not particularly fast. But there's nothing like it.

I often hear others say they only work out because of how they feel afterwards. Or that they do it to look good. Sometimes that's me, but most times, I'm just doing it because I enjoy it.

My love affair with running started in high school. I was a pudgy girl. A friend of mine returned from summer break, newly slim and lovely, and I asked what she had been doing. She told me she picked up running that summer. I was baffled... "Running?" I asked. I couldn't grasp how she could run very far. As our conversation continued, she told me she would run out, and run as far as she could without feeling too tired to turn around and make it back to her house.

Intrigued, I decided to try it. The most running I had ever done was around the basketball courts in elementary PE and chasing after balls in softball games. I put on my running shoes my parents had bought me for softball practice indoors, and set out to run to a bridge maybe a quarter mile away. I kept going... and going... I'm sure it wasn't that far, but back then, running captured my soul for the same reason it does now.

There's something... earthy... spiritual... about transporting your body across the earth. I can imagine my very distant ancestors traversing the world by foot, exploring, looking for new things to see, places to live and find food, walking and running. It's primordial. It's real. It's something buried deep within the fabric of who I am. I love it.

Running has gotten me through many a rough spot. Break ups. Personal struggles. Post-pregnancy, I'm a mom and I don't know what to do with myself blues. It's shown me that I have a bang-up work ethic and that I am pretty damn tenacious when I want something.

I'm a long way from the girl running to lose weight. Lots of times now, I run with the intent of being able to increase my aerobic capacity. My personal favorites are short, hard interval workouts to build anaerobic capacity. But lately, as I come back from my injury, I'm rediscovering running, remembering why I love it, and I think it's worth doing. If I only perform the activities I do with the intent of getting faster, what have I gained?

As I proceed through the busy race season, I need to stay centered, balancing my love for the sport with my love of speed. There's a girl in me who really has fallen back in love with running... I'm sure as the summer wears on, I'll begin to see it as a chore, but right now, I'm ready to get the party started :)