Why do you run?

The following are two short (350 words or fewer) essays answering the question "Why do you run?" This is the perennial question for runners, and one that always leaves me struggling to put words to the feeling I get when running. 

I submitted the second one to a contest, run by Geoff Roes (http://akrunning.blogspot.com/), to get in to one of his running camps this year. 

Why do you run?

That’s a question with as many answers as there are runners. It’s a question every runner gets asked on a regular basis. And it’s a question I’ve asked myself on many a below-zero morning in Minnesota since I moved back here from Boulder, Colorado. 

I started running distance, I had been a sprinter for years, in my senior year of high school for two of the most mundane reasons imaginable. The first was because a doctor told me it would be good for my knees, which had been trashed after 12 years. That’s right, a doctor told me, in 2000, that running would be good for my knees. I was that lucky. 

The second reason I started running was because of a girl. Enough said. 

That’s why I started. So why, 15 years later, am I still running? I will give you free reasons. 

Freedom. This is a typical answer, as far as I can tell. I run to get away from the proverbial “all.” When I’m out running, I can do what I like. I can set aside the worries of work and life, or I can sort through my thoughts on work and life. As so many others do, I do my best thinking while running. In college, where I double majored in math and physics, whenever I had a particularly stubborn problem set or take-home exam, I would set it aside, go for a run, and more often than not when I got back, I would have the answer. 

Uncertainty. We live in a pretty secure world, all told. Despite the constant fear-mongering that we see in politics and the media, we are living in the safest situations ever seen in human history. When I toe the line at the race, even if I’ve done my homework, I am never sure how the day will go. 

New Beginnings. Years ago, I slipped on a patch of ice. Normally not a big deal, but I had just had shoulder surgery, and could not catch myself. After 8 months of recovery, I joined my first running club, trained for a year, and watched my PRs fall. Every season is a new beginning. Every race is a new beginning. Every run is a new beginning. And that is why I run. 

Why do you run?

That’s a question with as many answers as there are runners. It’s a question every runner gets asked on a regular basis. And it’s a question I’ve asked myself on many a below-zero morning in Minnesota since I moved back here from Boulder, Colorado. 

I started running in my senior high school on my doctor’s advice. I had trashed my knees with 12 years of soccer, and they were, in the doctor’s words, disintegrating. He suggested a number of exercises I should do, and added in passing that running might be a good idea for me. That’s right, in the year 2000, I had a doctor tell me to run for the sake of my knees. I was lucky. 

I also started running because of a girl, but that’s another story. 

Six years later, in Boulder, Colorado, I slipped on a patch of ice. Not normally a big deal. But I had just had shoulder surgery two months earlier, and could not catch myself. After walking home from, past the ER, I called my sister to take me to the (same) ER, and found out I had broken my leg. A half millimeter more separation between the pieces and the doctor would have put a plate in. But since he was the same doctor who did my shoulder, and didn’t want to see any more of my insides (his words), he let it heal naturally. After 8 months of recovery and rehab, I joined a running group, and a year later my PRs started falling like rain. 

Last year, I moved back from Boulder to Minnesota and the coldest winter in recent memory. Despite -20 degree temperatures and record snowfall, I met more people through running than any other way. 

If you haven’t caught it yet, I run for new beginnings. Every season is a new beginning. Every race is a new beginning. Every run is a new beginning. Whatever else is happening in my life, running always gives me a fresh start.