A visceral reaction

Do you love running? Are you ok with it sucking? Can you love something that sucks? Hmmm.

I had two Running Sucks-related interactions with strangers over the weekend that hit both ends of the pleasure spectrum.

First,

Ann

wrote a note about how hearing me speak about running on The Culture Study Podcast earlier this year not only helped her start running again, but even inspired her to write a brief benediction about her running experience. Very cool x2.

The next one was when a friend of a friend was introduced to the title of this newsletter. Their reaction was an incredulous, “WHAT?” We were running together at the time, and I was somewhat taken aback. This meant that I proceeded to awkwardly stammer my way through a couple of minutes of verbalizing my entire running/coaching/life philosophy because simply explaining a joke to a stranger is always a fruitless endeavor.

However, I think the best jokes always have an element of truth in them. Running does suck. Ask any new runner! But I don’t think the suck is reserved for newbies.

Consider how two miles might be the whole run for a new runner, but an elite marathon group I know of doesn’t even include the first two warm-up miles in their long run workout plan. It’s because those miles suck, regardless of whether the sucky miles are 5-10% of your run or the whole damned thing.

Now I also experience the suck when I’m running double-digit long runs and running has consumed a large portion of valuable weekend time, or if I somehow don’t get to shoehorn a run into my schedule, leaving me wanting. And dragging myself out of bed to run (or worse: to get to a race) will always suck.

Add to that: lost toenails, torn tendons, a rogue DNF. That’s all serious running, and it all seriously sucks, but we keep coming back. It’s love, even if it sounds like an abusive relationship.