A foggy day of February marked a complete cycle for me: 10 years of running. 30,230 kilometers. It is a lot, but do they also hold an importance? They do, of course, but not at the level you would might expect things to be matched with this achievement. When I first decided to run using an app, I had no clue where this will take me. It started building discipline, a sentiment of fulfilment, quite hard to explain at certain moments. Then first 100 kilometers were ticked. 200, 500, 1,000 and things started to get serious. My passion for gathering kilometers emerged, enhanced, started to be part of my life. Without knowing, though, the purpose was different.
Oh, 10 years…
Running started to build a discipline, a habit and funneled my thoughts, helped me arranged my priorities, and deal very often with them while running. Running become a great time to learn and listen to useful things. I’ve developed these habits and optimized my perspectives. These are the most important credits I would mention when I’m thinking of the main benefits of 10 years of running. To be honest, nobody actually like to exercise, to move. And it is normal, because humans are not necessary build to move, but more to think. If only… At least in the recent centuries. I have spread some similar thoughts one month ago, when I have reached my 30,000 kilometer benchmark.
Perfect alibi for travel, thru running
Having milestones when running is good only if you can transpose them into the parts of the life that really count. For me, running didn’t mean only the chase of kilometers, it meant, from many things, pursuing goals. Challenges, if you want to put it this way. But the challenges where always mostly excuses to use when travelling alone, to fulfill my thirst for knowledge thru wandering around the world. Sure, at first, in my own country, giving me the opportunity to reach “corners” and places I never taught I would, or which I just didn’t think my “bandwidth” allowed me to. When you want to travel alone, especially in a world full of prejudices, alibis are a must. So running was my main “alibi” to go and see places.
A few examples…
In many cases I have explored territories, in depth, by running. And I’ve wrote here about one: Tbilisi. This is a random, but sublime example. I won’t get into details for them, as I will dedicate many separate articles, with sufficient details. But I remember other places such as Ochsenfurt, Homberg, Venice, Viserbella, or Funchal which I didn’t see necessary for running, but mainly because of running, meaning I’ve did some runs where I wanted to stretch my horizon of visual reach. Tromsø became a lifelong dream, from 2017, I think, when I first so, in a magazine advertising for the Midnight Sun Marathon. I am telling this story over and over, and I will never cease to, since I will never get tired of Tromsø, and Norway in general. Running enriched my cultural layering, my thirst to explore.
Speed or running discipline, not strong points
Since I am nor a fast or very disciplined runner – although I am fairly high disciplined human being! – I feel, at least from time to time, the need to improve, to train, in the hope I become better, and that I might have better results. I am squeezing in everything to be as comfortable as possible, not to be obliged either to wake up or to train on certain days. I must admit that I hate training to run fast, by… running fast. I would just wish to run fast when it counts, when the rankings are shiny, but without putting too much effort in that. I am candid, because I am 100% sure a lot of people dream and think of this. I admit it. I would like to run a marathon in under three hours, but out of thin air. Or, in a better wording, by training in the comfortable zone.
Life, shaped (including) when running
These things are not possible, and, of course, any minute you want to improve, needs effort. A lot of effort, in some cases. I love consistency, and focus, because in many ways, this is how I build up my life. By being consistent, persistent, and with as much focus as possible, as focus might be the key of all successes. Running consolidated this approach, but not necessary when it comes to… running. Running is like a toping, that you don’t always want or like, but which you ingest because is either needed, or required. Ideas and plans were born while running. Plans were created in my brain while adding one kilometer after another. It really works, and I think this is the biggest earning of the 10 years journey: the shaping of my life. The true meaning of some human supreme attributes, like those mentioned above.
Mike Tyson point
To be consistent solely in running, and to wake up at 4 AM, after three hours of sleep, just because you think that is the key, the mistake is huge. Unless you are a top athlete, like, for example, Mike Tyson, was saying he goes as early at 2 or 3 in the morning to run, because his opponents were sleeping. Of course, if you are a person of that caliber, then that makes sense. But Mike Tyson also had another saying: “Everybody has a plan until he gets punched in the face”. So true, in many regards. You think you are consistent when running, until important staff passes by, and then you realize it is too late. It is like motivations: if somebody needs to motivate you, in any regards, like Dan Pena would say, you are lost.
Learn what counts, thru 30,230 kilometers
Nobody should lack motivation, because if you do, you can’t move a needle in what you do. “Work”, in many cases, is like “modesty”, useless attributes, suitable for people without any significant qualities. Running can become a coping mechanism for other factors, and any tiny achievement in a race might seem huge. But as I have already explained, in my previous milestone post, nobody actually cares of how fast you run, apart from you. And if that joy can’t bring you a quantifiable joy, then, I am afraid, you didn’t get correctly the lessons which running really teaches a person which is not a professional top in sports. This is exactly the beautiful part in those 30,230 kilometers I’ve gathered in 10 years: they consolidate my thoughts regarding the dealing with the real important things in life.