Why I Run
I listen closely to the soft consistent sound of my shoe rubber stride across a packed gravel trail, “crunch, tap, crunch, tap”. My rhythm carefully adjusting and molding to suit the unique trail characteristics. Larger rocks here, a swerve there, minute changes in elevation, uniformity, and cushion are constantly calculated as I navigate my way along the trail features. I feel good. Not lightweight… but certainly free. I can feel the muscles in my legs signaling the early warning signs of depletion, but I know that these warning signs are not to be trusted yet, that my body is capable of pushing well beyond these cautionary alerts. In fact, it has to since I still have 22km to run.
I haven’t always been a runner, nor did I grow up with much of a pure running background. I liked to sprint, just not run for longer than a few minutes. That’s not to say that my leg muscles weren’t developing. I spent much of my childhood and early teen years playing competitive hockey, I did track & field, I played soccer, lacrosse, rugby, I did do a little bit of cross-country (and always performed rather poorly), and I had always been an active kid. I just never ran for fun… or to train.
Sometime in my 24-26th year of existence on this strange and beautiful world my mindset shifted… I began to recognize my love of enduring activities. I saw the value and enjoyed the effort and gratification of human-powered exploration. I began to drift more and more into activities that required a lot of time (and willpower) to complete. These thoughts and feelings led me into rock & alpine climbing, into more dedication of ski touring in the winter months, and in between those main pursuits, running just made sense.
When it was too wet to climb, I ran. When it wasn’t quite snowy enough to ski, I ran. Running became a sort of “in between” activity, that I personally felt provided the most bang for my buck. It’s there for me when I need it. There are 3 main reasons I love running:
- For the time it takes, it’s one of the best workouts for cardio & leg endurance.
- Once you are over the initial hurdle of leg fatigue… you can run for as long as you can fuel (to a point) – so hiking trails and overnight backpacking trips can be seen and experienced in just a few hours, running with a light pack.
- From time to time, it feels REALLY good.
So, that’s it. Part efficiency, part “what else is there to do”, and part: best cardio I can get in this 60-minute chunk of time I’ve been afforded!
of Backpacks and Beards 