I love these articles because Marc Parent writes about the stages of running and I can relate to that. It is amazing to me that as I've followed him from month to month I read and laugh because I just went through the same stage. In part 4, Marc talks about what he hoped running could do and his eventual realization that running is not the end all fix all. Running is great for you, but you have to come to the point where you run just because you enjoy it. Then everything else is bonus.
I'm not going to post the whole article this week. If you want to read all of it you can see it HERE. I'm just going to post a few of my favorite parts.
An Inconvenient Truth
Running turns out to be only one part of the whole health puzzle for author Marc Parent.
Running does not grow hair on your head. The shock of this sad fact may not be immediately apparent until you stop to think about it—how on earth could an activity this difficult not grow hair? My observation is anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt on a mound of fries: I run to exhaustion and still, there is no hair.
There are other things I've discovered running won't do. Since I began two months ago, not one person has stopped to ask me if I've lost weight. Forget the minor detail that I haven't actually lost any weight—I can put on a new shirt a lot easier than run for two months and get asked the same question. Running will not smooth wrinkles or wash away gray, or give you a sunless tan. It will not earn you a six-taco lunch, it will not raise your IQ, it will not actually turn back the clock, and it will not, no matter how heroic your efforts, gain you the slightest admiration of Halle Berry or George Clooney.
The hard reality of this hit me on the last run of my second month. I tried to visualize the person I'd become if I reached the point where I could easily pop off three to five miles and came to the appalling realization that I'd still be the same guy—a thinner (I've been told), more energetic (I've been told), sharper (I've been told) guy who is not a day younger, still needs to protect his head from the sun, and never has to screen Hollywood calls. I was expecting miracles, but honestly, doesn't everyone? Running for running's sake was not what I signed up for.
(The article then goes to talk about how a doctor's visit went. But for me the important part was the end.)
I'd begun the right thing for the wrong reason. Vanity brought me into running but wasn't strong enough to keep me in. There is nothing wrong with the desire to fit into a smaller pants size, of course. If you run to set an example for your kids, or to offset hardship, or to celebrate or mourn or because the sun rises or because one plus one is two, then by all means, do it. It's really good that you're running, after all—running is good for you. For the first time ever, I had to run—not for any other reason than to live better, live stronger, live longer, just live. If I was looking for a miracle to keep me going, I had just found it.
I couldn't wait to get started.
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