August 4, 2025
I first took up running in the summer going into eighth grade. Given the Texas sun, this was a particularly bad time to start doing so; sunscreen had not yet occured to me as something I ought to apply & the midday Dallas heat feels as if you’re under G!d’s magnifying glass. Regardless, I worked myself up to regular 5ks with the recklessness you’d expect from an early teenager. However, I stopped as the school year began (doing an additional exercise after 9-10 hours of school isn’t fun!)
I started again during covid, though I loved (and still do) my roomates, our 4x2 apartment felt increasingly cramped, especially so since I slept in the smallest bedroom which I could touch either wall when stretching my arms. Those early-morning runs before everyone else woke up were my one respite; after, I’d limp around the house and refuse to mention why. As these sunrise journeys grew longer, I mentioned them as an activity I did on the side. With ebbs & flows I continued this streak from sophomore year into the workforce.
With a sudden excess of free time running came in a more structured manner. I worked my way into 30, 40, 50 miles per week (injuring myself several times in the process). Often, when I mention that I run, I either get a “why?” or “I could never do that” – these phrases are what I’d like to discuss.
“Why do I run?”, is a question which I’ve spent significant time on, especially after nearly tearing an achilles & injuring a nerve in my leg. in truth, there are multiple answers. It provides me a way to truly be alone with my thoughts, without music or my phone, thoughts pop in & out of my head and then pass as they may. For the rest of the day I feel much more levelheaded than I would be otherwise. It could be construed as meditative though that be viewed as untraditional. On occasion, writing, work, or project-related ideas flow through my head which I save for later. When I was in college, solutions to problem sets I’ve been struggling on would occasionally appear fully formed during a run. I’d return to my desk covered in a river of Austin-generated sweat desperate to record it before forgetting.
Running also keeps me fitter than I would otherwise be. Heart problems run in my family, but I’ve been able to keep abreast of them so far. According to my Garmin, my heart rate is 43 resting. I also feel much better than I did before running; I can hike or bike for however long I wish and rarely get physically exhausted. That being said, I do occasionally fall into the trap of running too much, which hurts for the rest of the day.
The last “why?” is the most nebulous. For a lot of my life I avoided feeling “in” my body due to it being distinctly uncomfortable. Running, and exercise in general, offer an avenue for me to inhabit myself fully; me & my body all operating in unison and there is no resistance from one toward the other. This state is enjoyable for reasons I do not know (“What is inherently better about this?”) but I’ll take it. Some psychology books discuss embodiment, but its not clear why this would be a preferable state on its face.
As for “I could never do that”, I suspect almost everyone can. There is an initial pain point as one’s cardiovascular system adapts, but this levels off. If nothing else, discomfort & friction are essential components of life & running is quite a pleasant way to experience these sensations.