Why Run? - Written August, 2016
To most other runners, the question about what would motivate someone to run doesn't come up all that often. You just kind of know. All of us were new to running at some point, and for most of us, running became early associated with the good feeling that goes along with having done a run. There is the contrast with the challenging feelings that occur during the running process, and the feeling of accomplishment. There are feelings of accomplishment that also feed into the good feelings about it. Some of these factors wear off after a while because the 100th time you run six miles is a different feeling of accomplishment from the first time you cover that distance. And about the contrasting feeling, there is always a new challenge between one feeling of relief and the next. Sometimes that challenge is enough to demotivate a runner to keep the practice up. And for some of us who have sustained our practice for some time, there has to be a deeper draw to summon the will to do it. I don't know, at some point I reached a place where I just knew it was right. Getting out of bed at 2:00 am on a cold morning and not questioning it enough to listen to that inner tugging that was beckoning me to stay in bed and continue the comfort of sleeping. When I realized that this was happening and I didn't have to play any games with myself to get me out there to run, I knew I had it - that it was a part of my life, and significant enough to trust my own decision to go out to run, above the inner chatter at the moment of releasing myself from the comforts that would draw me in another direction.
-Christopher