My roommate thinks I’m crazy as I head out each morning for my run. Sometimes he’s sitting on the porch listening to music and the other day I joked, “You know you want to come with me!”
“No way. If I’m ever running it’s because I’m running from something. So what are you running from?”
“Hmmm, running from something. Well, why don’t you think on what I’m running from while I’m gone, see if you can figure it out,” was my reply in my little sarcasticy-joking manner.
“Why is it for me to come up with?” him.
“Okay, I’ll be gone and when I come back I’ll make sure it’s because I’m running from something worthwhile…I’ll make sure I’m stealing something really good,” and then I was off.
I’ve gotten the ‘running from something’ remark a few different ways
* Joking: “I’m only running if I’m being chased.”
* Fishing for a deeper meaning/Dr. Phil style: “You must be running from something, what is really going on here? Shall we explore?”
For the second one I’d like to flip it around to this: I’m not running from something I’m running TOWARDS something.
Sometimes I run towards sanity. True fact, I’m far more imbalanced without my miles.
I’ve run straight into torture. Wait, I mean intervals and races. 😉
Other times I run headlong into release. Frustration, stress, feeling lost, feeling overwhelmed, feeling enraged…you get the picture. Running into these feelings makes them more manageable.
I like to run towards my goals. Black and white benchmarks, progress checkers…with running it’s usually pretty easy to see if you’re headed in the right direction. There are lots of road signs to keep from getting too lost.
I’m always running into food. Do we need a better incentive to run? Really, do we? 😉
Ultimately I’m always running forward because that’s the only place we can go. I used to think that there is no real point in looking in the rearview mirror. However the other day I reassessed that when I wrote, “Sometimes we need to stop looking forward for a moment to take a look back and see how far we’ve come.”
So I amend my previous ‘rule’ of not looking over your shoulder. (Never in a race though, that shows a sign that you’re hurting and you don’t want your competitors to know that!) In our ever constant mad dash running forward, there are moments when you can look behind. Relish the times you DO accomplish a goal. Savor the bittersweetness of persevering though the really hard times, the times that you thought would break you but didn’t…be proud that you’re still here and kicking.
We are runners, though I don’t think we are running FROM anything. We are always running FORWARD into something better, with slight pauses along the way to let the moments that make us stronger sink in so that we’re assured we are brave enough to keep running headlong into what awaits.
1) What’s your answer to people who say, “What are you running from?”
2) What’s been one of the funnier twists on what a person says about why they don’t run? (ie: I only run if I’m being chased by rabid dogs.)
3) What has been a moment that you feel is important to look back over your shoulder on and remember that you’ve been there or done that?
Faced never being able to run again and proved that I WOULD get back. 🙂
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I always tell my kids that about looking back! I’m such a stickler, I think it takes 2 seconds off their time (in reality I don’t know, but I yell at ’em and say it does!). I’ve heard a lot of people say they’d only run if something was chasing them or running from the police, haha.
haha…no joke i had a coach like u and to this day any time i see someone look back i can hear their voice in my head, “you NEVER look back!”
I’m always running toward Sanity. Which I guess It means I’m running from the craziness and being overwhelmed!!!
Yep heard those too… Or “You only get one body… Don’t want to wear it out running”
Whatever…. I don’t run to live. – I LIVE TO RUN 🙂
that last sentence, we can shout that from the rooftops! 🙂
I’m totally with Jenelle – I run to sanity.
Mr The Rake doesn’t run because there’s no beer at the finish line.
Your moment to look back at is inspiring! I think you know mine 🙂
haha…man, the three of us sans running would be filling the looneybin! 😉 haha
Thankfully, I haven’t been hit with that yet. 🙂 But a very cool person told me once that it’s good to look at where you have come from and to see what you have accomplished. 🙂
When I first started running it was due to a relationship ending, so I guess I was running from something, but now it’s so much more than that.
Love this!
it’s so true that things happen for a reason and good comes from bad; while i’m soooo sorry that it took the ending of a relationship for u to find running, i hope that it and the connections u make because of it fill ur heart! 🙂
I like this line of thought a lot. I def try to be the runner who is running forward. And I agree that we all need to look back once in awhile…just to put things in some perspective and appreciate where we are now.
🙂
I am running towards a healthy, stronger me. and food and booze. definitely. 🙂
I usually get the normal “I’m only running if I’m being chased”. I did read some funny running quotes on Skinny Runner the other day. Some were pretty funny.
When I finally made it to my first marathon, and even know. I have lost so much weight and gotten so much stronger and it is only because of how far I’ve pushed myself.
HAHAHA!! food and booze, hey if it keeps us moving forward, right?? 😉
I’d run towards YOU! buahaha, sorry, i’m terrible.
well, i’ll apologize in advance for ur disappointment. 😉 lol
haha, awww, I find that hard to believe 😉
When I was a smoker I said I would only run if I was being chased and now that I am a runner I love it and crave the run!
i’m glad u kicked the smoking and replaced it with running! 🙂
I run and I run and I run to catch up to the sun but it’s sinking – racing around, to come up behind me again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but I’m older.
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.
(name that artist~ it isn’t me)
DANG…okay i could cheat and try to google, but i’m a runnerchick who knows when to admit defeat. and i’m also anticipating that i should know this, the thing tho is i often just listen to songs without really paying attention to the words…i have funny stories in that regard actually. 😛
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I’ve never had people ask what I’m running from … there are comments definitely, but not that. Non-runners just don’t understand!
I run toward sanity, health, fun, challenge and friends.
sanity seems to be a common thread. 🙂
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