All I Need To Know In Life...I Learned Through Running?

I’m a runner, I guess-I run on a regular basis and participate in several races each year.  Though I’ve been running for a little while, I started trail running last year and now consider myself almost exclusively a trail runner.  Running in and of itself can be both challenging and extremely rewarding.  It takes a lot, both physically and mentally, to push your body to some of the distances that marathoners go but I’ve learned that trail running raises this to an exponential degree.  This weekend marked the first trail run of the season for me. 

The past several months have been very tough.  Lots of changes, lots of pain, lots of challenges.  I would be remiss if I didn’t say that there were times where simply facing the day and my job took every ounce of strength I had.  I still have those days.  Every person has different levels of resiliency and I know that mine is higher than many (for better or for worse) but I truly believe that my recent move to trail running has only made me stronger than before.

For those that don’t know, I live in central Pennsylvania.  The woods here are beautiful but the trails can be tough.  I have been on runs where I have literally climbed on all fours up a nearly vertical mountain!  Torturous at the time but so rewarding.  So what has trail running taught me?  How does this apply to everyday life?

Trail running is hard.  Really hard.  I’ve been on runs where my lungs hurt, my body hurts, I’m exhausted.  I’ve almost lost shoes in ankle deep mud.  Run through freezing knee-deep water.  I’ve run the last five miles of a sixteen mile race with excruciating leg cramps so severe that it took an hour after finishing for them to subside.  I’ve been cut, bruised, and battered by rocks, branches, and thorns.  I’ve literally cried on the trail before.  When you’re pushed to the limit both physically and mentally but there’s one more mountain to climb (after you’ve already climbed four up to this point!) you sometimes hit that wall and emotion takes over.  But what do you do?  Do you quit, stop the race?  Turn around and go back?  Give up and walk the rest of the way?  No…you give yourself that moment.  You cry, you curse, you do whatever you need to do-for about 30 seconds.  Then you pull yourself together, you suck it up, you face that mountain square on and you finish with more strength than you had before. 

I was asked in an interview recently what I do for fun/in my spare time.  Of course I mentioned my running and how rewarding and what a great stress reliever it is.  But it wasn’t until I was reviewing my responses in my head afterwards that it really clicked how much more it has been for me than that.  As I’ve said, I’ve always been a strong person.  Unfortunately I’ve had to be.  However, I think that trail running has been a very timely addition to my life as I’m not sure I could have faced what I have over the last several months had I not developed an even stronger sense of strength, both physical and mental, this last year.  It has taught me to fight and overcome moments where I wasn't sure that I could continue forward.

So this weekend.  I’ve been in a tough place lately and I almost just gave up and decided that I wasn’t even going to race.  I didn’t care.  Found it pointless and unimportant.  Why bother?  My dear friend and running buddy refused to let me roll over that easily.  She threatened to spend time annoying me whether I was running the trails or moping on the couch!  I relented and decided to go.  Maybe it was nice getting out on the trails with a group of like individuals or maybe I just channeled all of the emotion I’d been feeling into the run but I actually did really well.  I finished third in my age group by about 40 seconds and I was only 6 minutes behind the top female finisher (who happened to be nearly a decade younger, I might add)!  While results aren’t normally something I focus on, this was a pleasant boost of encouragement as I’ve not been training as I should and have felt horribly out of condition.  I’m glad I went.  I’m glad I gathered my strength and faced the mountains in my life one more time.

We all have our mountains from time to time, whether they are literal or metaphorical.  It’s okay to have weak moments, to cry or get angry, to “give up” for a minute or two.  But ultimately you pull yourself together, square up, and face that mountain stronger than before.  Life is hard and often unfair and it's okay to have those times of weakness...but it's how you proceed from there that truly defines you.  Get up, fight, carry on.