You should know that I’ve been running.
I’m able to do 3.5 miles of real, serious, jogging without stopping right now. That’s up from about 1 mile when I started two months ago. Most days, I don’t feel good while I’m doing it, especially the first 100 steps or so. After a while, though, I settle into a groove, and it becomes a little fun. I try to mix up my workouts, and do some so-called “burst training” (that’s where you walk/jog for a while and then run really fast for a little bit, then repeat the pattern) even though it makes my legs threaten to go on strike and/or fall off.
The most important thing for my continued progress in this whole running thing is taking days off. I wasn’t doing that so much when I started, and my legs were worn down to practical nubbins. Then I took a day off, and voila’ – I was able to do an extra half mile the next day! In the same way that music is really about the spaces in between the notes rather than the notes themselves (so say music scienticians, anyway), running is about knowing when not to run. There are probably other life-applications for this concept, but I’m not wise enough to think of them right now. Also, nobody is paying me to do so.
Why do I run?
1) Health — to paraphrase Chuck Klosterman in Killing Yourself to Live, I run to avoid death. In Chuck’s case, he was making the point that since he had so many bad habits — smoking, binge drinking, eating fried foods, taking whatever illicit drugs he happened to come across — running was the counter-balance that allowed him to stay alive. For me, it’s really more about the fatty foods (although I’m avoiding more and more of those every day). High blood pressure runs in my family. Thankfully, so does running.
2) Freedom — One’s freedom is (somewhat) defined by how many miles they can traverse without mechanical aid, and how fast they can do it. Ok, so that’s probably not a good definition of freedom, but it totally feels like it when you see the countryside flying by on either side. Another way of saying this is: Running is like walking, but much, much less tedious and time-consuming.
3) Being Awesome — Sure, there are more effective ways in the world to get “fit,” but most of them require special equipment/training/etc., that The Beard isn’t about to purchase or indulge in. The Beard has a basketball, and that’s about it. Let me put this more succinctly — Richard Simmons is fit, and marathon runners are awesome. Which would you rather be? I thought so.
