My Top 10

I was recently reading a fellow bloggers post about her top 10 reasons for running.  This made me think in the back of my head what are my top 10 reasons for running?  I ran a good 12 miles on Sunday and since then it has been rough.  Today's 3 mile run was such a struggle and I don't know why.  With the difficultly of school work and training mixed together, I feel it is a good time to really sit down a think:

What is it that makes me enjoy running? (No Particular Order)

1. Running Against Myself
When running, especially when I am not a competitive runner going for gold medals and all that, I feel that I am not really in a race with anyone else.  Everyone, including me, has a PR for different distances.  I am not here to race against others, just to see if I can improve myself and push myself harder.

2. Improving My Past Times
I started out in middle school remembering running a timed mile.  It was a five lap mile and I finished four laps in nearly 13 minutes, granted I was really trying hard, and never finished the last lap.  In college, I ran a mile in 6:40 when I was large.  Now I ran a mile in 5:58 and could probably go faster if I push.  It is great to see how far I have come and know there is much more I can go too.

3. Me Time
The moment I put on my headphones is the moment nothing else matters.  I wont answer a phone call, think about school,worry about anything, except my run.  It is the time of day where I can relax, in a way, and just... run.  Yoga has been great for this too.

4. Overall Fitness
Yes, a few of these seem to be running together, but my overall fitness has been great.  Running has aided me in losing over 90 lbs.  I feel I am shifting away from a weight loss mindset even though I want to lose more, but into a more fitness/put muscle on my body.  It is hard to know where I began and how far I have come, but I do know that I am better than I used to be.

5. Seeing Others Run Too
I used to drive by people running, especially bigger people, and think pffft good luck...  Now I see someone running and I really wish them a 'Kol L'Chavod' (good for you in Hebrew).  I know personally now how hard it is to get outside and run and then to stick with it for times and times again.  If they have the power to do it, then I will give them my respect and hope that they can push through to the end.

6. The T-Shirts
There are some people who think, 'Another race t-shirt? What am I going to do with this?'  I enjoy getting a new shirt!  It is a memory of where I have been.  I have three from Israel, one from Baltimore and one from Cleveland.  Can't wait for more... one day it will make quite the quilt of where I have been and what I have accomplished.

7. Following Others Success
I really enjoy reading about other runners.  There are people who sit at the computer and play games.  I prefer to sit down and read other blogs or especially Active.com articles.  It makes me think in depth about what exactly it is I am doing and how I can improve.  Also how well others are doing and the tricks or walls they run into also.

8. Calves
Okay... so those of you who know me real well... I have a weird little quirk about myself.  I look at my calves...often.  Sometimes I will think they look good, most of the time I think they look fat.  Either way over the course of a day I will constantly, nonchalantly, glance at my calves from the front and just wonder for a second.

9. Goals
It has always meant a lot to me to lose weight and has been on my goal sheet.  It feels really good to know that thanks to running I have been able to cross off two long awaited goals from my goal sheet including weight loss and mile time.  I cant wait to achieve my next set of goals which include marathon completions and faster mile times.

10. Me Time
I know I already state this but I want to stress this point.  While in Israel, one of my friends asked me whether I prefer to run with someone or run alone.  My answer was I will always run with someone but nothing compares to running alone.  You get to set your own pace and then it is only you and you alone.  This is a great time to reflect or even just give your mind a break.  It feels good and especially on the longer runs, some people say they get bored and couldn't run far... I think they are thinking about it all wrong.  As I say, I can't run to techno loud crazy music, I need to run to a rhythmic, methodic type of music that makes me really feel the flow of the day.

Even after writing out these ten points, I feel there are plenty more reasons why I enjoy running.   This helped me feel better though about running and hopefully tomorrow, the new day, will bring a better turn of events and running mentality.

What keeps you running?