The Positives

When I got up this morning at 4:45 to run I needed to remember what the pros of running are. As the sun was just barely peeking up, rubbing its eyes as I was rubbing mine, I was a little hard pressed to see many positive aspects of doing this. However as I started to wake and quicken my steps to a nice easy pace I was able to recall a few.

First, some of the positives are obvious like exercise, good for your body and burns calories. However there are many not so obvious ones too, like alone time. I cannot run with anyone else, I have a thing about it. This is funny since I am a very social person, and I love being with and talking to people. However when I am running I do not want to worry about anyone else but me. I do not want to think about if I am going too fast or too slow for the other person. I do not want to have to keep up my end of a conversation or listen to another. I just want to do my own thing, and be totally selfish, and I feel no guilt. I may be so inclined to take a dog with me, but only because they don’t talk.

Since running the 5K with Haley, she has been asking to come with me every chance she gets.  I may need to break down and let her come once a week, but no more. Another great thing is I can listen to whatever music I want. I know some people say iPods are for people who cannot be alone with their thoughts, but for me that is not true. I can totally be alone with my thoughts, but I would rather be alone with Dave Matthews’s thoughts. Music while running gives me the motivation and push that I need to keep my pace, and is the only time I can listen to what I like. No one needs to know that my iPod has songs from 80s hair bands to Kings of Leon. No one needs to be offended that I have Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters on the same playlist. Moreover, especially no “little ears” are able to hear the hard-core yet catchy lyrics of Eminem. I am locked in my own world where no one can talk to me and I am my own DJ. How cool is that?

A big positive is that no one needs me while I am running. I do not answer my cell phone, return text, check Facebook or look at e-mails. Running gives me time to observe life going on that has nothing to do with me. I can run through neighborhoods and watch parents pushing strollers, see bunnies chasing each other, look at beautifully landscaped lawns and even notice other runners. I would have missed these things if I were driving in my car hurrying off to yet another event or chore. I would hardly notice that the summer flowers are starting to come up, or that the neighbor across town painted his house a pretty shade of blue. Ironically running is my time to slow down and take notice of the world.

Then there is something called a runner's high, I have experienced this many times. It is a feeling that you get either while running, or many times after, that your body can do anything. You feel very connected to your every move and every body part. You feel like you can do anything and nothing can stop you. If only this feeling could be bottled and given in small doses through the day there would be no more half-finished projects or lazy excuses.

The next two positives are equally important and I am not sure which I like more. The first is that it is over, and the second the shower you take after. Maybe they are one in the same because it is usually in the shower that I really enjoy the fact the run is over. Of course there are plenty of negatives to running, but I am not going to write about them. I have to get up tomorrow at 4:45 a.m. again, and I cannot even let my mind go there.