Running Rewards

I am a runner. Even as I write that I find it hard to believe, but, I am a runner. I like to run. I like runners. I like running events. I like everything about running. The problem is that I can’t run as much or as often as I’d like to.

When I started running, now nearly 20 years ago, runners ran. That’s what training was about. If you wanted to be a runner, you ran. During the years that I was doing triathlons I trained in the other sports only because I had to. To me, the time I wasted riding and swimming was time away from running. Strength training and flexibility? Get out of here. I was going to run myself strong and flexible.

This latest episode with my SI joint has taught me the benefits – and necessity – of strength training and flexibility. It’s also teaching me a lesson I should have learned a long time ago. Being active is what matters no matter what the activity.

I’ve rediscovered the fun of a simple bicycle ride. I’m not talking about hammering in a pace line. I’m talking about riding on a tree lined paved path along a river and thinking “This is GREAT.” I’ve rediscovered the joy of a simple walk through the woods. Again, not with hiking poles and a Camelbak, but just wandering along a path listening to the sounds of the forest and thinking “This is GREAT.”

Then, on the days when I can run and DO run I think, “THIS is great” because the running has become a reward that I give myself for NOT running. Sounds wrong, I know. I reward myself with running because I didn’t run. But what’s happening is that the more I reward myself with running because I didn’t run the more I enjoy the run and the more I appreciate NOT running.

Is this making any sense?

So today I’ll run in Seattle because I can. I’ll run along the water today because I didn’t run on Tuesday. And I’ll be thinking “This is GREAT”

Waddle on, friends.

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.