The Magical World of Running

Step step

Step step

One foot in front of the other

Keep going

A little further, to that bus stop, to the tree, to the mailbox

Weight on toes, Weight on toes

Dang - A heel step!

Step step

Step step

Hello, Good looking!

Big smile

Oh wait … breathe breathe

Damn, stitch!

Deep breath in, deep breath out

Step step

Step step

CAR!!!!!

Step step step step step step

Phew, smile …

I've always hated running. Actually, I've never been very good at sports. I was the kid who tried a new sport every year but despite all my best efforts always warmed the bench. My mother would never let me quit. “You don’t have to do it again next year but you do have to finish what you started this year,” she’d say. So, my poor coaches would be stuck with me for a season. My tennis coach put it best. We were at the end of year banquet and he’d gone around and said nice things about every player. He finally got to me and there was a long pause while you could tell he was really searching for the right words (I’d hit him in the head with the ball accidentally three times throughout the season and most of the time he was a good two or three courts away when it happened!) and said “Dash, you suck but you have a great attitude!”

But over the last few months I've taken up the act of running outdoors and I'm strangely starting to enjoy it. And no, it’s not just the Clapham eye candy that keeps me coming back for more but the ridiculous feeling of accomplishment I feel at the end of a nice long run.

Now, my success rate depends almost completely on whether or not I have a running buddy. I'm learning (for me) running is more of a team sport than I’d ever imagined. I do not have the drive or desire to keep going without a trusted buddy by my side and I'm lucky to have a great few. My drive comes from not wanting to let my buddy down or ruin his or her run. My drive is the fight to not want to be left behind or the jealousy of knowing the person who keeps going will be finished with the task before me. So, when running with a buddy, I keep going. I push a little harder, go a little faster and find a way to escape my body and work on auto pilot. And now I'm starting to understand the appeal of running, the rush and desire to do it again, the addiction to escaping and just doing. It’s a high worth fighting for!

While I've been averaging about 4.5 miles a day, my biggest accomplishment so far was a charity 10K my running buddy and I participated in this past Sunday. It was cold, windy and wet (and the free t-shirt was orange). The course was a 5K loop, so when all the 5K runners were being cheered across the finish line we got to run right by and do it again. The mental game to keep going was a new challenge but we pushed each other onwards. She pulled me through the first loop and I pushed her through the second. Teamwork, I tell you! We managed to cross the finish line at exactly 1:00:42.

While we were not the fastest or the strongest runners on the course we felt a great sense of accomplishment and the desire to find the next run and beat the next time. Even now, I might never find a desire to run a marathon or even go farther than a 10K, but I am pretty proud that I've tackled my passionate hate for running and crossed over into the land of the people who “get it!” Who knows, I might just call myself a runner one day …