Running Takes Me To A Different Realm Where Things Make More Sense
An Activity Worth Building At
There are certain activities in this world that catapult you to a realm where things make more sense. They’re like the finishing puzzle piece, or the last chapter of a book. They make you feel like everything that happened up to that point no longer matters because what’s happening now, in this moment, is the only thing that’s important.
An activity that brings me back to this realm is running.
Around five months ago, towards the back end of the winter when spring was on the verge of blooming, I decided I wanted to get serious with running. This wasn’t the first time I wanted to get serious with running. Far from it.
There have been many seasons of my life where I hopped on the treadmill in preparation to have some consistency with my training. If it wasn’t for the calf muscle strains or the strenuous days filled with long work hours, I would have stuck with the training.
Ha-ha kidding, these are poor excuses.
The reality, is I haven’t been disciplined enough to keep the training consistent. Running hasn’t been the highest priority which is another excuse, but I know I can be better.
I feel the pull to come back.
When it came to my training, I never set goals or a certain pinnacle I wanted to reach. A few times I toggled with the idea of running a marathon, but overall, I just wanted to build endurance. I wanted to be able to run long distances in short amounts of time.
So, coming back to when I started running at the end of March, I did well. I built endurance slowly. This was because the last couple times I ramped up my running training, I made mistakes.
I had puppy dog energy. What this means is I would increase volume faster than my body could tolerate. It was always in the first two weeks, I would go from 0 to 100, running long distances as fast as I could.
Bad idea.
This combination resulted in overuse injuries. When someone who hasn’t ran for a long time gets back into it, they should build their pace slowly. I did the opposite. The competitor in me wanted to become a top notch marathon runner overnight.
Patience young grasshopper.
My calves were the ones who had to pay for this naïve training. Sorry calves, I will treat you better next time.
I stuck with the training for roughly three months. My mile times were getting faster and faster as I gradually built endurance.
In May, one of my best buddies moved back home after living away. We went on a 7.4 mile run together. It’s always a blessing when him and I compete because we get the best out of each other. I ended up running my fastest 7+ mile pace, which was around seven minutes and thirty four seconds per mile.
It’s the high.
The runners high is what does It for me.
I’ve only felt similar physical highs from fasting or doing long exercises. When these highs take place, the door to my creative energy storage room opens.
I remember being on mile 7 when the runners high came to fruition. My body felt lighter and my mind transformed from structure to openness. This was when the poetic thoughts came in.
I did my best to store the creative and unique thoughts that developed in my mind while running so I didn’t forget them. When the race came to an end, I went straight to the note pad on my phone to write down all the poetic thoughts I could remember.
Sadly enough, in the second week of July, I had to stop training.
During one of my three mile runs, I was buzzing at a six minute and thirty second pace. There are some good sidewalks around where I live. On these sidewalks is where I do a lot of my runs.
The sidewalk I was running on that day has a spot where the sidewalk ends and turns to grass for about 50 feet before becoming sidewalk again.
When I got to this part, it was bad news.
After running on grass for about ten seconds, as I was about to return to the concrete, my foot caught the side of the sidewalk awkwardly. Half of my foot was on the sidewalk and the other half was on the grass. It was like a shark came up and bit me as the ligaments in my ankle acted as a bungie cord absorbing the weight of my body protecting my ankle from snapping.
Those ligaments did me well, but they were wounded.
Sorry ligaments. Thank you, ligaments. I love you ligaments.
Long story short, I couldn’t walk and my ankle swelled to the size of a beach ball. Luckily, a nice civilian passing by in her car saw me laying on the ground and drove me back to my apartment.
Once I found out the ankle wasn’t broke, I had to hope for no structure damage to the ligaments. After about two weeks, once the swelling started leaving, I felt confident the ligaments weren’t fully torn. I’m about seven weeks out and I can say my ankle is about 85% recovered.
Since the ankle sprain, I’ve been ramping my activity slowly. I often find myself on YouTube, gaining large bouts of inspiration from hybrid athlete Nick Bare and ultra-runner David Goggins.
These guys run at a different level. A level that inspires me and motivates me to keep going.
Some of these ultra runs take place in some of the most gorgeous places in the world. The thought of running 100+ miles in the mountains of Moab, seeing sunsets and sun rises while on a runners high makes me want to go back to that realm.
Like mentioned earlier, it’s not just the runners high I crave. I crave the mental clarity and creative mind revival.
Anyhow, I have to get this ankle healed first.
That’s the latest.
Thanks for reading.
My writing consists of my journey through professional baseball, health and wellness, career transitioning, life coaching, poetry, self-development, and self-growth.⚾️🍇📝🚀
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I envy anyone who’s ran long enough to experience a runner’s high. Sounds peaceful.
My labored breath at mile 2 begs to differ.
I used to love running, but not so much anymore. Walking is my speed now. Hope it continues to give you pleasure for many years!