24 mar 2012

i am simply not that sort of runner.

(not that you'd care.)

most of the people i know who run run seriously. like, they do workouts and shit. who does workouts? kids who run track do workouts. olympians do workouts. regular people don't do workouts. these people think they are regular people. HAHA. not so much.

i like to go out and jog around.

a few years back, i got all caught up in running marathons and tried to do two in the same year. i ended up on a medical mystery tour that ended with an asthma diagnosis. i think i had asthma all my life and when i tried to do more it showed up. after that got sorted, i got all caught up in running distance and tried to run 2000 miles in one year. i ended up with a stress fracture. i know more now about leg length differential and i'm not sorry i learned it, but i blame the quest-for-2000 for the stress fracture.

i like to go out and jog around. when i get sick or hurt, i can't go out and jog around.

my running is not a means. not a way to become faster. not an investment in winning races. my running is an end in itself. if it is a means at all, it is a means to more running. the only way to be able to run is to run. sure, i got caught up in running stuff before, but i've learned my lesson. i don't mean "running hurts you". i mean, i have learned that what i love is the running so the external goals are just a distraction and a risk. it's not worth it to me to lose running time. this doesn't mean i am saying there's anything wrong with goals, and i certainly don't believe everyone would agree with me. for a lot of people, running is a means to something else, like winning races.

it's like this. some people train so that they can run marathons. i run marathons so i have an excuse to do the training. it's the saturday 10-miler that holds the allure for me. the marathon is just the reason i give people. they think running a long way in order to train for a marathon is crazy. they'd never understand running a long way in order to run a long way.