My Running Addiction
When I was younger, I ran on the high school cross country team. It was the only time in my life that I was truly successful, being on the varsity team for three years. Eons of biology and evolution gave me a body that was built for long distance running. I have always been awful in anything requiring concentration (disc golf, ‘real’ golf, pool) and/or hand eye coordination (basketball, tennis) and I know that. When I try harder at those activities, I do worse. That’s just the way it is. Running has always been different for me. Little concentration is needed. What is needed is good biology and mental focus.
When I went on to college I did not join the X-country team as I was concentrating on my studies and the guys who were on the team that I met were all arrogant pricks. Over the next 15 year I would occasionally re-start a running regimen, only to get in shape and then stop after a month or so. I was always running in the morning by myself. It was easy to convince myself “I am not going to run today”. And all you have to do is not run for three straight days and it’s all over. A few months ago we started a running ‘club’ at Jackson Community College. I decided that I would help out as a pseudo assistant coach. In the last 1.5 months I have managed to get myself back into pretty good shape. My first road race in >6 years was the Souper run on Nov 6, 2005. My 5 km time was not great, 21.24, but for a 33 year old who has not really run for a while and started running again about 3 weeks before the race, it was not bad. For comparison, the best time I ever ran was 17:55 when I was 17 and in fantastic shape. I am almost double that age now so I should be realistic in my expectations. Last Sunday I ran my second race, the Habitat for Humanity 5K run. I did much better, running a 20.17 and getting a medal for my efforts. I felt great.
For the first time since I was in high school, I am back in shape, for real. It feels great. I have a complete addiction to the endorphins that come about from long runs. I am an adrenaline junkie, going for long bike rides when my feet are sore from running. The exercise makes me feel so good and healthy that I am finding myself having a hard time convincing myself not to run. This morning, I went for a 5.5 mile run. The temperature was 15 F with winds in the range of 20 mph. Freaking cold, no doubt. I went shopping yesterday at a local running store and bought some cool news running clothes built for cold weather. It was awesome and I felt great. What a great start to Turkey Day!