WHY I LOVE LONG DISTANCE RUNNING
Everyone knows that running long distance is healthy and offers a host of benefits!
1. For starters, running long distance is great cardio and it improves your basal metabolic rate, which means you burn more calories throughout the day even when you aren't working out.
2. Running long distance in conjunction with weight lifting also tones the body nicely which is important to people who want to lose weight but keep it tight and right and not be too flabby.
3. Forty-five to 60 minutes of uninterrupted running tremendously improves a person's stamina, especially if they consistently work toward becoming faster during those runs. People who love being in shape find it embarassing to huff and puff after going up one, two or three flights of stairs! Great stamina means you don't huff and puff until maybe the tenth set of stairs ;). You get to keep your dignity in doing the normal, light, physical day-to-day activities.
Aside from all those narcissistic reasons that make me never want to get out of the mirror, running long distance has added a benefit to my life which was unforeseeable before I actually started doing it. Running long distance has given me a way to access my peace of mind!
Most people who I talk to about running say that it is boring and unenjoyable. I couldn't agree with them more. It takes me a total commitment of mind and body to pull through 4 to 5 miles of uninterrupted running at an even pace. I find that, like any other thing worth committing to, running takes passion. Running requires a very strong desire to push through the hard part of physically demanding activities. But when I look at the workout summary on the treadmill, I am able to say "WOW! I DID THAT!", (meanwhile I am snickering about the person next to me who gets off the treadmill after only half a mile... muahaha, I won the treadmill race one again).
Running for me is extremely painful and boring. Those first three minutes are agonizing, especially when there is nothing good on TV at the gym, and Pandora is playing some absolute nonsense while I am trying to get into my groove. But after the first two miles, I am completely at peace, and nothing else matters. I definitely zone out and stop paying attention to the burning hamstrings, the sweat dripping into my eyeballs, and the annoying thumping/pumping of my heart and lungs. I shift into a solitude, a tranquility, a blissful unbothered state of being. AND, I have the privilege of ignoring everyone around me!
Running lets me say (in my head of course) to people who try to strike up casual conversation, "Why are you even talking to me? Can't you see I'm doing something?". Unlike feigning busyness in front of a screen or a handheld device, when you are running for a long time, people see that you are physically engaged and committed to something. You are literally unavailable to do anything else in that moment besides focusing on the task at hand: getting that run completed at an even pace so that it looks good when you upload the stats in your fitness log.
While I do get to have bragging rights for completing long distance runs, the real reward is knowing that I put my mind to something really difficult and I triumphed, all while accessing inner peace along the way to getting there.
And that is why I love long distance running.