Sunday, August 27, 2017

How distance running mirrors life—my personal perspective

Inevitably, when someone engages in a conversation regarding running, the standard questions arise: “How long have you been running?”, “What got you into running?”, and my first personal favorite, “What's the longest distance you've ever run?”

OK, maybe favorite isn’t the right word to use for that last question, but as someone who enjoys challenging myself with increasing my running distance, I often find myself in a quandary with what to say when trying to explain the distance of my longest run/race. When you’re a distance runner, you find that your answer to that question is received with a variety of responses: amazement, shock, an eyebrow raise, and my personal favorite, the back and forth shake of the head.

I say I'm hesitant to answer that question simply because of some of those reactions. But what most people don't understand is that running long-distance, while indeed an accomplishment, is not really such an extreme. An endurance event like distance running really has a lot of similarities with another endurance event—life.

Most don't understand that, and admittedly it took me a long time to understand that as well. It does take a while to see the similarities, but when you look, they are there. I've seen them. They are starting to become more evident to me the longer that I participate in running long distances. I too once thought that long distance running was something extreme. That was before I really started to pay attention to what I feel when running longer distances.

Deep down, I ask “How many times do we really push ourselves past the norm?”, taking on challenges into what we find uncomfortable—essentially something out of our comfort zone. This is what you do in distance running, push yourself into a zone that is uncomfortable for you. Again, most people don't truly do that. Which I understand. But I ask each of you this: “Doesn't life test you and push you into what makes you uncomfortable?” Stop and think about that for several moments.

This is where I start with tying together that distance running / endurance events really do have a lot in common with life itself.

Life will hand you ups and downs, twists and turns, highs and lows. These are all analogous to running for several hours and many miles. In fact, training and competing in ultramarathons has taught me so much about myself, who I am, and how to handle life better. I find that the periods of lows while running never last, eventually you work your way out of them, and you come back to baseline. I believe life is like that as well. The break-up, the layoff, the death of someone you love—they all bring us down and make us sad. But in the vast majority of cases we all bounce back and are stronger for having gone through that situation. It hurts when you’re in the moment yet seems tolerable upon getting through it. Stronger in the long run—just like running long distance.

In life, there are times when you will most likely experience some kind of great discomfort or pain. In both running and life, it is a time like this that we assess ourselves. We think: What is causing this pain?, What steps do I take to get rid of it?, and How do I prevent this from happening again? But just like the ups and downs, you learn from the pain and how to become stronger from having gone through it.

Life hands you plenty of moments when you will be tested physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Run long enough and far enough and then get back to me—tell me you weren’t challenged in all of those same ways. In endurance running the physical eventually become mental, and that’s when the emotional roller coaster begins—they are all intertwined, one influenced by the other, never truly separate. I doubt anyone would disagree about this in life too.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt alone? I’m guessing the answer to that is likely yes. And this too is often found in distance running. Sometimes the solitude is purposely sought out, sometimes not—but regardless of purpose and whether it’s life or running, you are forced to learn self sufficiency. This life skill carries over to running, and is one we must all learn to be able to progress despite of the adversity. In the tough times in life, the ones that come along when our support system isn’t there, being able to cope and make it through the low points on your own is so important. Especially with the training aspect of endurance running, this is so very true as well. In a race there’s a much higher chance someone will be near or around you, but training runs often wind up being a solo effort and you had better be able to pull yourself out of the lows you will ultimately face.

In one of my favorite podcasts, East Coast Trail and Ultra Podcast, Episode 10 discusses some of these topics and touches on a great point. It talks about how in races there are aid stations. For non-runners, an aid station is a point along a race course where participants can get food or water, maybe adjust or change clothing/shoes, and in general get help in order to complete the event. The guest on the podcast touches on what I mentioned, that sometimes in life there are no “aid stations”, it is going to throw a situation at you when you least want it and are most unprepared for it but you are going to have deal with it and unfortunately you deal with it by yourself. Many times in life we find the help we need after when we really needed it—and that perfectly describes an ultramarathon. Most times when we’re hitting a low, the aid station is miles away.

That leads me to my next point. In both distance running and life, it’s how you react to the diversity you face. I guess at least in a race there’s a way to bail out and quit. But how many times in life do you have that option? With the ups and downs, the pain, the solitude—in both life and distance running it’s how you grow and learn from having gone through these experiences. As long as you learn from them and remember the mechanisms you used to make it easier, the next time you face those same situations then it won’t be as bad and you’ll be more prepared to deal with them—making them less stressful.

Regardless of the aforementioned similarities between life and distance running, there are two other final overriding concepts I especially find true even more so. The first is the fact that, in both races and in life, the clock keeps ticking. Neither stops and waits for you. You have to literally and figuratively put one foot in front of the other. Otherwise you’re not really making forward progress, which is ultimately what is needed in both endurance events I mentioned. The path will likely seem uphill at times and going downhill out of control at others. Regardless, learn how to find it within you to move forward—don’t worry about the speed with which you’re doing so—just move forward!

The final point is dedication. Many say to me that it must take a lot of dedication to run long distances. Yes, it does. I can’t dispute that. But stop and think how much dedication it takes to get through life. Do any of you think that dedication is extreme? Perhaps if you truly stop and think about you’d say yes but in general I bet your initial response would be no.

As you can see, there are several aspects of distance running that closely parallel life, whether it be in general or be in more specific adaptations that are required of us. So while I do understand your perspective of distance running being extreme, I hope that these comparisons help to provide insight on those who run long distances, whether at the ultra or sub-ultra level, and leaves you with a greater appreciation for their desires and accomplishments, and let’s you know endurance running is simply a reflection of a greater endurance event!