Sunday, November 4, 2007

Running

Sometime this summer I started running. I'm not exactly sure what all the pieces were that made me start to run.

This summer was the second year I participated in the Trek Across Maine. A 3 day bike ride for a total of 180 miles. The first year, it was something I did to get through the divorce, it filled my time when Sunshine was with her Dad, and gave me a focus.

The second year, I think I participated because I'd done it once, so why not again? I knew what I was getting into and we have a team from work. Funny thing is, when I take on something like this, something that pushes my mental of physical abilities, I become a complete introvert, I internalize my thoughts and feelings and become wholly focused on the goal- so there really is no "team" about it for me.

When I was in high school I was the manager for the track team, so I was always around running. One of my favorite sporting events is the 400 meter intermediate hurdles. It is truly a beautiful event to watch.

So why did I start running? I got bored with bike riding- part of it was that I injured my nether regions this year during the Trek so getting back on a bike wasn't going to happen. I had also told a friend last year to bug me until I was prepared to run a race in May- but I never did it- I made excuses. I wanted to get physically fit, and running was SO far off the radar of anything I thought I could ever do that it became a perfect challenge for me.

The fascinating thing, after about 4 months of running, I'm calmer than I've ever been. I am less stressed, I laugh more often and easily. There is a line in a Daughtry song: "And I should've started running a long, long time ago."

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