You can plan the number of miles you run and the route you take. You can plan the clothes you wear and the fuel you bring. You can even plan your pace. But when it comes down to it, running is all about what happens from the second your foot touches the ground to the second you stop, look back and say, “I just did that.”
It’s about the doing of it.
I have yet to run a race or a long run where everything in that middle area of the actual running ended up exactly as I had imagined it. I’m always grateful, of course, for the preparation and training (without which I wouldn’t make it very far) but it’s the doing of it, the running of it, that’s the adventure.
People always proclaim that running is a metaphor for life. They say this is because both running and life are challenging and both test our will, our strength in overcoming obstacles. No matter how hard it is, you train, and you keep pushing. You get up every morning and you get it done. Just like life.
Not to put down that theory, but my version is a little different. For me, it’s that middle part, the running of it, that’s analogous to life. Not because I’m overcoming any obstacles, but just because I feel the world as it really is when I’m running. I’m aware of everything in a very genuine way. And, mostly, I think running forces you to sort of go with the flow. Just as in life, there will be the expected and the hard. There will be the easy and the effortless. There will be days when your plan comes to fruition. And then there will be days when a downpour forces you to take shelter under a tree and, well, wait.
For me, the lesson in running is not about the victories, although they are great, don’t get me wrong. I have to admit, I love it when I reach a milestone like my first 20-miler a few weeks ago. Or when I get a PR for a certain race distance. Those are accomplishments that prove to me that I’m progressing.
But, at the end of the day, for me, it’s more about the stuff that happens on the journey. The sweat drenching my socks. The unexpected song on my iPod that brings me back to high school. The friendly wave from a runner passing in the opposite direction. The way the light shines through the trees in my favorite park. The feeling of not knowing what’s around the corner. The running of it. That’s my favorite part.