I have never really spoken about my running exploits in my blogs.
I have occasionally mentioned specific races during periods of my continued recovery from addiction but I have never written one specifically about running.
Since I am about to head off on a spectacular “Forrest Gump” inspired run across the USA I suppose this is as good a time as any to start.
The oddest thing about my running is that when I started I didn’t really like it. In fact I would go so far as to say I hated it!! I was nineteen stone and hadn’t run for about ten years. There was nothing to like. My feet hurt my bones crunched and my muscles ached for days after my first few runs. I sometimes catch myself saying to new clients “stick with it, it will get easier!!” What a load of rubbish, it doesn’t!!
If I’m honest I hated running for about a year after I started. It didn’t get any easier. I didn’t believe it ever could get easier.
You see the beautiful thing about running is there is never a finish line! There is never a happy ever after point! She kissed the frog and it turned into a prince moment!
As we improve we put more and more pressure on ourselves, its human nature, we believe deep down that ,who knows, this may be the thing I’m good at! So we go faster, we go longer, we train harder, we push ourselves to breaking point! We are never happy with our efforts! Be truthful now runners, how many of you haven’t sat down on a Monday after your Sunday race and said “if only I’d have done…..I would have finished faster!!”? Come on admit it we all do! Very few of us are content to say “I did great yesterday and I’m happy with what I achieved!”
That is the reason I believed it never got easier. Our eternal pursuit of glory can, if left unchecked, turn a passion into an obsession and obsessions are rarely enjoyable.
I ended up in this situation for a year after the Marathon des Sables. Nothing satisfied my desire when it came to running or training! In fact I found it almost impossible to train for anything.
The Marathon des Sables came too soon in my running career. I was only sober for two years when I took it on. I believed that if I completed the race people would recognise me as a “runner” instead of as an “addict”. It would be my way of standing tall.
It didn’t work out that way. You see I had got confused about what a runner is! With all the super athletes out there its easy to do. I got caught up in the running snobbery that exists where unless you can achieve a certain time or a certain distance you are not a “true runner”!
In this last year I have discovered what a true runner is.
A True runner is someone who puts their kit on and doesn’t worry what it looks like, a true runner runs with a smile on their face, a true runner waves and says hello to other runners, a true runner runs the distance they want in the time they have got!
So for me after six years of running not getting any easier all of a sudden it is. I have turned my back on the running snobs and given up on trying to outdo people.
I am going to run the distance I want in the time that I have.
I am going to be a True Runner!
Live The Life
Tom
Tom Drying Out 