What He Said…

Today I was all prepared to talk about one of my favorite topics (food!), but my friend Stephen commented on my “Mindset” post and it was so pertinent to both “Mindset” and “It Ain’t Easy” that I thought I’d share it here for the wider audience (reprinted with permission).  I especially love his last line: “…I regret NOT running much more than I regret running.”

By way of introduction, Stephen is a relatively new runner as well.  He ran his first half marathon in Nov 2008, a couple more halfs in 2009, and his first marathon in Oct 2009.  He’s currently training for a second marathon.

Put your hands together for guest blogger: Stephen

As much as I like running by myself, being able to get away from EVERYTHING except the road and my thoughts, running with others is fun, and different.

Running on the weekends: not such a big deal to roll out and get ready to go. I’m usually the first one up (if you don’t count the cats). I’m the first one up on the weekdays – Tuesday and Thursday at 4:45, baby! – though, and if I didn’t know that ST would be pulling into the driveway at 5:25, well, I wouldn’t have nearly as many miles behind me as I do.

It IS ‘mind over matter,’ but it’s a bit of the ‘buddy system’ as well; ST and I rely on each other be there for each other. We catch each other up on what’s going on in our families’ lives, and chat about the morning, but it’s just as much about propping each other up.

Yeah, it’s hard to be motivated at 4:45am when it’s pouring down rain outside – and yes, we’ve bailed a few times – but we’ve run at 19 degrees before, and run in the rain, and when one (or both) of us really didn’t want to run… but we’ve run. And we’re better for the experience, and we know that we’ll feel better after we’ve run than if we didn’t run.

The post-run conversations are often interesting: “After one lap, I almost said ’should we stop,’ or ‘i will run to the playhouse and tell Stephen to go ahead and i will walk back to the car…” but with VERY few exceptions, we go the distance. (Our weekday runs are two 2.8-mile loops of a lake near where we live.)

I feel better when I run. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this fact, but fact it is: I regret NOT running much more than I regret running.