Running when no one is chasing you

Over the past year or so, I've taken up 'running'.  I put it in quotes because, well, I've become one of those people.  You've met us...we talk about how many miles we've gotten in this week, when our next race is, new running areas and other such stuffs.  We have a borderline maniacal glean in our eyes...not scary in a cut you up and hide the body sort of way, more of a 'hey this Kool Aid is great. You REALLY should have some ' fashion.

The weird thing is, I'm ok with the reaction.  I don't want to convert anyone, to make them join me on a 3, 6 or 13 mile trec.  I understand the eye rolling - heck, when I did my first Muddy Buddy, a 1/2 mountain bike 1/2 trail run 2 man race a few years back, our team name was EyeRollerz!

I started running kinda like Forest Gump.  I'd been spending too much time at the computer, and the gym was just depressing. so I went outside and I...ran.  Since I started keeping track back in August of last year, I've run 650 miles  - for a combined time of 124 hours.

I spend a lot of time doing 'stuff' - I think we all do. Could be cleaning the house, sending work emails, attending yet another meeting, or simple vegging out in front of the TV or computer. Sometimes I end  my day with a sense of accomplishment, far too many others with a feeling of time just ebbing away.

As cliche' and simplistic as it sounds, they days when I run are always better than the days when I don't.

I'm not solving the problems of the world..heck, I'm struggling to deal with and understand my own little corner of paradise on a minute by minute basis. But for that hour or so when I've got my headphones on, listening to Oingo Boingo, Depeche Mode or some other 80's New Wave sonic nonsense, as my feet methodically and rhythmically strike the ground, I feel as though I can make it another day..or month ...or year.