Why Do Runners Run?

I may sound a little preachy, but it’s not my intent. Passion takes hold, you’re almost powerless to stop it.

Since I started running nearly a year ago, I’ve been asked, “Why do you run?” more times than I can count. I usually respond with something like, “Because it’s fun.” This answer is pretty lame for a number of reasons. Although it is true that running is fun (most of the time), it doesn’t reveal much to the non-runner and is therefore, not a good answer. Let me explain to you non-runners what those three words mean to us so that in the future, we runners can still use that lame-o response “because it’s fun” without having to get into a deep, meaningful conversation with you when all you want is a single-sentence answer.

Having been a non-runner for 21 years of my life, I understand that it may seem silly to run mile after mile only to run a race 4 months later and not even win! How could that possibly be rewarding? Well Grasshopper, that is a good question.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of why I run is food. Wonderful, glorious food. Man, I love to eat... People have said to me before, “Wow, you can eat a lot.” And while this statement may offend most women, and perhaps I too should be offended, I’m not because this is not me. This is why I run, because I seriously love food—this isn’t an exaggeration, I am in love with food. How do you know when it is love? Easy—if your spouse gets jealous when you eat because of all the moaning you do, it’s love. Just like Steve Runner from the Phedippidations podcast runs to eat yummy pizza as much as he wants but still manages to fit through his squeaky front door. Just like my husband runs so he can drink his home-brewed beer. We runners run so that we can eat—I don’t think it gets simpler than that (and in a peculiar twist of fate, we eat because we run…fancy that). It’s funny when you think about the myriad products we have available to us today to help us “lose weight” and “be healthy” that don’t require any more work than pushing a button on the microwave. All of these pre-packaged, preservative-laden, tiny-portioned, not very tasty weight loss foods we can buy off the Internet have made us into lazy animals. Do you see other animals living like this? Of course not! Exercise is part of an animal’s life. For example, wolves hunt for food. If a wolf is going to succeed in catching that tasty-looking hare lying in the brush 50 meters away, he’s going to have to run. And, as the cycle of life goes, he’ll catch and kill and eat it—but you know what, after he’s finished his meal, he’s not guilt-ridden or looking at his reflection in the river feeling depressed about how big his butt looks. If he had been as lazy as we humans, he would not live very long. To be a successful animal, you must keep yourself alive. This brings me to my next point—I run to be a good animal.

We have bodies. Now, just stop and think about that for a moment. You have a body. Just one…there’s not a spare in the closet if this one gets worn out. No, you have to take care of this one because you don’t get another. (Well…unless you’re Tom Cruise, that is.) So, when I say I run because I want to be a good animal, I mean that I want to make the most out of my existence and prolong that existence as much as I can. To be successful, I must make the most out of my body. Every time I go for a run, I feel alive. I can feel my body moving through space, I can feel my muscles flexing, my heart pounding and my lungs filling with air. I appreciate my body each time I take to the roads—I appreciate my existence in this Universe (however insignificant it may be) because I’m doing. I push my limits on each run to see what I’m made of so that the next time I run, I can do it better. To revisit our wolf friend: If he still used the same hunting tactics as when he was a pup he would not survive for very long. Instead, he learns each time from his mistakes and his successes so that he can become a better animal.

Perhaps this is a selfish thing we runners do; we’re always concerned about our goals, our times, our races. And for non-runners, we seem to be extremely self-absorbed—just ask my husband what I used to think of his running when I was a non-runner! But what if we didn’t run? What if we sat on the Couch Of Doom eating cheesy poofs all day, shortening our lifespan by 5, 10, 15 years? That is selfish. I’ll be the first one to admit that running seriously takes up a lot of my time. There are a lot of things I’ve sacrificed so that I can run. And I don’t even run that much right now since I’m not into formal race training. But, if I didn’t run, I’d be sacrificing so much more. Here are a few of those things: The ability to be healthy enough to bare children. The ability to play with and keep up with my nieces and nephews (and someday my own kids). A long, healthy life with my husband. The ability to give my dog a fulfilled life with play and exercise. A healthy brain, heart and nervous system. A healthy, drug-free mechanism for coping with stress and anxiety. Restful nights of sleep. I could go on and on, but I think you get my point.

On top of all this heavy information, when you run… DAMN, kid! You look good! Seriously. You get out of it what you put in—meaning: you put in the miles, the fat gets outta here! It’s a nice side effect.

Happy running,

Sarah