Why do we do this to ourselves? - Phil Cox

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A friend of mine has restarted his blog around his running, the first post talks of peoples motivations and why they like to run.  As someone who has been active all his life, loves competing and pitting himself against the clock and others, we have some common ground. Although I do not run, I can identify with this piece and suspect that many other people can too.

Here is the piece with a link to the blog at the bottom of this page.

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Let’s play ‘Reasons For Running Snap’.

Ok, here are mine, see if any of these hit the spot with you too:
There’s a clear relationship between my fitness level and my contentment.
The biggest gym in the world is right outside my door.  And I’ve got free membership.
I like a sport where the equation is simple, work equals reward.  When someone says ‘You’ll be good at this if you’ve got natural hand/eye co-ordination’, I want to get my coat.  Conversely, ‘eat training, improve’, yeah yeah, where do I sign up?
Every run is a self-esteem boost.  I can and I did.  Even the bad ones are good.
Some of the very best runs I’ve done have been the ones where I’ve thought twice about going out beforehand.
Tricky situations seem much clearer and easier to deal with after I’ve racked up a hard six miler.
Taking that time out for me means I’ll give the rest of my time and attention away to others more willingly.
And here is my Ace In The Hole, wot I fought of all by myself.  This is the reason I think all of us run, and you qualify as one of the ‘all of us’ if you get a little bit twitchy if you haven’t run for two or three days.  Ha ha, is that you?  Without getting all George Benson (The Greatest Luuuuurrrrve of Aaaaallllll), running is the place where we express ourselves to ourselves.  (Ok, if you’re not American, maybe put your head between your knees now and breathe deeply, the feelings of nausea will soon pass.)  But no, seriously now, let me expand.  We have lots of competing demands on our time and energies nowadays, and most of us end up presenting very slightly differing versions of ourselves to different people, depending on the situation we encounter and the expectations placed upon us.  We are viewed and defined differently by family, friends, work colleagues, casual acquaintances etc., but, apart from loved ones, their opinions of us don’t really matter in terms of our overall happiness.  The one big opinion that counts is your own view of yourself, and whether you like what you see.  Running gives us that, it’s why we go running after a crappy day, to remind ourselves we are capable, fit, strong, free and happy.  Of course, we don’t actually think of those steps, but I think that’s why we need to  go and why we feel so much better and calmer afterwards – because we’ve expressed ourselves to ourselves.
Snap?  Or crap?  You decide.
Simon Smith, Oct 2013

 

Strangely, as I get older, I do wonder why I still like all of the above when I end up looking like this after a race? Haha!

COXY SWICYCLE 29.03.13 021 (400x267)

Have a quick look and see what you think, I’m sure he’d love to hear your comments too – happy reading!

http://51runner.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/lets-play-reasons-for-running-snap.html

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