Day 163

Besides run-ins, I enjoy running. I run more for leisure than competition though I did place third in the South Shore Glide 18 and under division in my first ever 5K race when I was eight years old. Not that I’m bragging. I tend to go into spurts with running. I used to get the itch when the weather warmed up. I used to hibernate from running in the winter months. Living in Wisconsin this made it difficult to make running a routine and regular part of my life. When my favorite baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, announced that they were sponsoring a mini marathon, I decided to set a running goal and I signed up. Once I successfully ran that race, I basically stopped running cold turkey until that first fifty degree day in March. This pattern continued for a number of years throughout my thirties. 

Eventually though, I realized I enjoyed running so much, I decided to find other people who would motivate me to run throughout the year. Running with someone has its pros and cons. While I do enjoy running to clear my head, sometimes, running on my own fills my head with ideas and reminders of the tasks ahead of me. I tend to feel those aches and pains much more sharply and don’t run as long or hard as I could. When running with others, my chatterbox self tends to chit chat my way through a longer and much more pain free run. Sometimes, being mentally strong supersedes the physicality of running. I also can't stand running on treadmills so I never stick to an indoor running program.

I found a local group of runners and started running early mornings. Sometimes, we’d run on the Bug LIne recreational trail that ran right through my old neighborhood. Sometimes, we’d meander through the streets of the neighborhood. While the running groups weren’t huge, I was never alone and it was fun to connect with people in a different way. Having an addictive quality to it, the more I ran, the more I wanted to run. I ran early mornings through late evenings. Snow. Drizzle, Heat. I ran and ran and ran.