There are lots of great reasons to run and to race. I’ve covered many of them in the past 18 months of this blog. And if you are reading this, you most likely already think it’s a good idea (or at least you’re trying to convince yourself that it is or you’re just reading my blog to mock me. It’s OK. I can handle the truth;). So let’s go the other way, shall we?? I thought it would be fun and amusing (for me) to make a whole list of things that are NOT why I run and race.
- To win. I won’t. Ever. Maybe when I get to be in the master division I’ll place slightly higher in my division but only because of sheer tenacity (or because there will be so few of us running that I’ll place by default).
- To be a size 2. See above picture for evidence that I am most certainly NOT. Actually, contrary to popular belief, runners are not thin JUST because we run. I’m also a vegetarian and eat clean about 85% of the time (the other 15 it’s all sugar cookies and red wine and chocolate brownies. Because I like life.)
- To save money because it’s the cheapest form of exercise! All you need is a pair of shoes, right?! Please see my post on how much a Disney race really costs to see how completely NOT my reason for running this is (yes, English teachers, that was sort of a sentence). As I’ve mentioned before, our household budget LITERALLY has a line item titled “Jen’s running” and it might be almost the size of our cell phone bill (which is almost as big as our mortgage).
- Bragging rights! So yes, I am proud of my races, but when you are a 5 hour plus marathoner, that’s not actually a huge “cocktail party stranger is now in awe of you” kind of stat. It’s just not.
- Because it comes so naturally to me! We were all “born to run”! Uh, decidedly NO. I love running but I’m not very good at it, frankly. It’s plain old fashioned hard work. And that’s on the good days. On the bad days it can feel downright impossible. On the bad days, going for a run seems as difficult as levitating above the sidewalk. While playing the harmonica. And speaking German. While juggling. It’s tough, Kids.
So why then?? Why do I go out every other day (sometimes more sometimes less) and do something that I can’t win at, won’t make me thin, is expensive, I can’t brag about really, and is ridiculously tough? I’m not actually sure. But I know if I don’t, I’ll be sad. And that makes about as much sense as any of it.
Happy Running.
Jen