Why I run

Motivation has been a big issue lately.  Issue not in the sense that I don't have any or can't find it, issue in the sense that it has been on my mind a lot lately.  I have read some interesting blog posts and articles about motivation and more important than "motivation" is "passion" or "inspiration".  So, I have decided what that "inspiration" is for me.  I guess I could keep it to myself, but I feel like writing it down will help me connect and re-connect with it in the future.  I do it for the chicks.

That is totally untrue!  The reason I love to run (and swim and, somewhat, bike) is that I get to this point where I can't believe that I am doing what I am doing.  Confusing perhaps, but I get this flash that I am doing what I am doing under my own power and that the human body - particularly mine - baffles and amazes me.  I tell my legs or my arms to do this "thing" over and over again and don't stop until I tell you to or until we have reached a certain point - and they do it.  I hurt and they keep doing it.  I get bored and they keep doing it.  I get tired and they keep doing it.  I get scared and they keep doing it.  I get distracted and they keep doing it. And when I say "they" I really mean "me" (or to be grammatically correct in the above sentences, "I".)  

I came across a quote from a book I will be reading that resonated with me (thanks Simon):

“Members of the endurance subculture grow so close to the subject they lose sight of the vastness of their achievement. Without thought or even the barest of acknowledgement, they pass through mental and physical boundaries on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the public stands in awe.” – Mike Plant, author of Iron Will

I "awe" myself.  At times I just go and hammer and don't think twice, but then it will dawn on me that what I have done is pretty special.  And what the people I run with have done is pretty special.  Not the distance or the time or the effort, just the activity.  Not everyone wants to or, more importantly, can do what I do.  It is an ability that I take for granted, but every so often, it presents itself in such a way that I can do nothing but be thankful for it.  

I run for that reason - because it makes me thankful for, and in awe of, everything I have been given.