Running for Joy

I can't believe that I've reached the point where I can say that I actually enjoy running.  But it's true.  The other night after watching Biggest Loser, my daughter and I went running "just for fun". I actually look forward to running!!

The best comparison that I can make is to people who enjoy going for a walk.  They like the fresh air, stretching their legs, the scenery, etc.  Going running is like that now - except that we're running.

It really hit me on Saturday when we were on our long run. We ran the route for the Goderich 5K that is in two weeks - FOR FUN??!!??!! We did our normal walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes. My friend who joined us asked if it was my goal to run the entire 5K on May 15th.

This is when I realized that I didn't want to have "external goals" anymore. I just wanted to have fun. I want to enjoy myself.

Don't get me wrong. It can be fun to push yourself to train harder, expand your limits, and see what you can do.  But sometimes it's fun to just feel the sun on your face and the feel of your body running forward. I think that this is more my way.

There are many factors to this newfound joy. But I do think that the biggest one is this style of naturalist/minimalist/barefoot running.  Why? Because I'm not in pain all of the time. My knees are happy, my back is happy, and my feet are happy. The day after a 5K run, I'm a little tired and my muscles know that we exerted ourselves yesterday. But no pain. Just contented fatigue.

Being able to run without pain or struggle is a massive milestone for me. It is totally untwisting some weird programming in my head that says that "running is self-torture", "you only run to lose weight", "only crazy hyper skinny people actually enjoy running", "running is for athletes", "anyone who runs over the age of 30 is a health-nut", "running destroys your knees and back", and so on.

One of the coolest things in the book "Born to Run" is that the fastest runners in the "running man tribe" were the elders. Experience, wisdom, and age were assets to running fastest and longest. Running improved every year. The young ones could never imagine being able to keep up with the elders. IMAGINE!!!!

This makes sense to my soul. Our society's obsession with youth has always felt wrong to me. And now this idea that running in this natural way turns the tables and lets us improve with age. I LIKE IT!!

And I think that this is what I'm experiencing with this "no injury training". It's like my body isn't going through the "tear-down" stage before it builds new strength and elasticity. Did I say how much I like it!!

So, I am truly running for joy. I'm running for how my body feels to run. I'm running for the sun on my face and the wind at my back.

Just running for joy!!