To me, running is living, it’s just that simple. The benefits and joys I’ve experience in regards to running are endless. Our body is the best gift we will ever be given. If we take care of it and it will take care of us and running is the best way I’ve found to take care of my body.
As previously mentioned, I picked up running after my freshman year of college to shed a few pounds. It was hard and less than enjoyable only for about a week and by the end of the summer I was hooked. I haven’t gone more than a week without running (other than a few breaks to heal injuries) since the summer of 2005. Sure, I picked up this sport in hopes to change my physical appearance (which it did very quickly) but it wasn’t long before I started to realize other positive changes and benefits from running.
The first benefit was a change in the way I felt. I was happy ALL THE TIME. Those endorphins are powerful things! Running makes me feel energized but at the same time has a great calming effect on me. Sometimes I’ll have a day where I feel down and on those days I make sure to get out for a run, even for just a mile. By the end of a mile the funk I was in is gone and I’m back to my normal self. When I run I’m able to zone out all the bad things in life and only focus on the good. Running allows me to think my best and my clearest. Besides just making me feel happy running has also become very empowering for me. When I run I feel strong and powerful and as if there’s nothing I can’t do. I’ve had lots of days where I haven’t wanted to go for a run but once I force myself to go I’ve never had a day where I’ve regretted it.
Another benefit was that my sleep schedule began to change and improve. I used to have a little bit of trouble falling asleep at night but when I picked up running I started to notice that I would fall asleep within a few minutes of lying down and I was able to wake up earlier and easier in the mornings.
Running also changed my diet in a good way. For me being active and eating healthy go hand and hand. It’s hard to have one without the other. When I started running it was much easier for me to eat healthy but at the same time I no longer felt guilty about eating junk food. I knew that my body would burn off the junk food on my next run so when I wanted junk food I would eat it. Diets have this weird way of making us really want the one food the diet is telling us we can’t have. When I stopped caring about restricting this or that from my diet a funny thing happened. There suddenly wasn’t much of an urge to eat those things or as much of those things. We want what we can’t have and as soon as we tell ourselves that we can have whatever we want we’ll suddenly only want what we need. That’s a really important lesson that I’ve learned and I’m glad that I learned it when I did.
For me, running has never been about how fast or how far I can go. For me, running is living. It keeps me balanced, strong, healthy and happy. Running is the best addiction in the world and I’m looking forward to being addicted for the rest of my life.