Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Why I run

I feel my need to run far as a longing. Ever since I started running long, I have this image that sometimes pop into my head: I'm running down a trail. I feel great. I don't know where I'm going but I know it's far. I'm just moving forward. Then the image is gone but its taste lingers and I know that I want to be that person who was running free, alive, without a care in the world. 

I'm lucky because I actually got to live that dream. I remember running in the dark around 1 AM, my headlamp painting a white circle in the snow in front of me, listening to my foot steps on the hard snow: crunch, crunch, crunch. At least 5 times I stopped, turned off my lamp and looked at the sky, taking it all in. Then I'd get cold and get going again. I hadn't felt so alive in a long time.

I run so I can live my dream again, so I can be free. Often I wish I were a good runner, that I could run faster, but really, it doesn't matter. Much.

3 comments:

Derrick said...

Nailed it. This I like!

Jamie said...

Awesome post man. I couldn't agree more. It is all about finding that place within yourself while running where you are just completely happy doing nothing else except running.

Sara Montgomery said...

Awesome post. After sooooo freaking long being injured and now finally starting to get back to a good place, I find this almost physically painful to read. In a really good way though, really!