What happens in the head of a person who has always been sedentary when, after a day of work and after a thousand exertions, he thinks, “You know what? We could use a good run.” What makes her put on her shoes and go out, even if she is physically tired and it is late?
Two reasons
I think at least two answers can be given to this question. I asked myself this question many times myself because I couldn’t understand where I found the urge at dinnertime to go out, maybe hungry, to do ten kilometers. That they are not that whole thing but 10 years ago they would have seemed – let’s say – unnatural. Ten kilometers you do by car or bike, not on foot. And in a hurry, to boot. Instead. The reasons are physical and mental-as they always are. Even when we eat we do so because we have a physical need for it but also a mental need. The physical ones are that we are not meant to sit still. Really. You get there over time and some never get there but the body begs you to move. It is unnatural to sit in the office 8-10 hours a day, while it is most natural to go out for a run for an hour. I know you have to work to put bread on the table, so let’s look at it from another point of view: our body tells us, “Okay, go ahead and sit in front of the computer because you have to earn money and maybe you like BUT then you take me out.” Yes, the body looks a bit like a dog: sooner or later you have to take it for a walk and pretend to be pleased with its evolutions. Because he is happy afterwards. Tired and sore but happy (the body, not the dog). These are the benefits that come after running: they are the runner’s high, they are the endorphins in your system, etc. But I think you only partly convince yourself to run even though you’re just tired of how you’re going to be afterwards. This is where the mental component comes in. The experience of running is indeed primarily mental. Think about it: it is a time you take just for you, in which it is socially accepted that you are disconnected (no cell phone, no phone calls, or if you take it with you you may as well not answer so much as “I’m running”), and during which you start one thing and finish it. There are not many other things you do on a daily basis that you start, do and finish. Some go on for weeks and months, others seem endless. You feel like you are a cog in a giant machine, and you don’t understand who is governing it. But with running, no. In running you are alone with yourself. Sometimes against yourself. And you are in your flow of thought, finally free to focus only on the important things. Or to not even do that, because maybe you just listen to music and really disconnect (in truth you never disconnect and focus your mind better but let’s pretend it’s true that you can think about nothing).
Running fixes (almost) everything
In short: if I’m tired, it’s because I’m confused, apprehensive, in a bad mood. But I know for sure that running will bring me clarity of ideas. This has always been the case; it has always worked. Here: I go out running even when I am exhausted because running is a promise. Running has brought me clarity of ideas every time, and it has always given me the satisfaction of doing something and finishing it. She always gave me back more than I gave her. How many other promises have you seen fulfilled in your life? I wish you many. The one from the race, however, is always available. It is an intimate promise, small perhaps but it is always fulfilled. Just put on your shoes and go out. (Photo by Hunter Bryant on Unsplash)