5 Reasons I’m Grateful for Running

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

So here I thought I was all set — I thought I’d totally written this post and had it scheduled to post this morning (which it did). Luckily I actually looked at it and realized that while I’d written out my subheadings, I hadn’t actually finished the post! Whoops!

Kind of like my post on IG labeled 4 generations (there were only 3). Well, I was a little tired last night . . .

Cynthia from You Signed Up for What?, Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, and Mar from Mar on the Run chose gratitude for today’s Friday 5, and since this is a running blog (for the most part) after all, I thoguh I’d write about 5 reasons I’m grateful for running.

My runner friends
“Normal” people don’t get us runners. Go out on a chilly (although warm for this area) morning to run a race before having 7 people descend on you for Thanksgiving dinner? That’s just crazy talk! Or so I would have thought a decade ago.

I won’t lie and say that the thought of staying warm in the house, watching the parade and the dog show, was enticing, but my running friends will understand why I got my self out that door for a Turkey Trot (my first!).

Seeing the country, one mile at a time
I like to travel. What better way to explore new places than on the run?  I often get to see so much more than my husband by simply going out for a run wherever we travel to (race or not).

Of course runner friends will also understand the running around parking lots because I have a long run to do and that’s my only option.

The Challenge
I do like a challenge. I think if I just concentrated on 5ks, I might definitely see a lot more improvement in speed. But I like the challenge of the longer distances.

Not that the short races are really any less challenging. They’re challenging in a different way. They’re shorter, of course, so there isn’t as much time invested, but you have to run a lot harder if you want a good time.

People say to me all the time that 3.1 must seem easy now. Heck no! A race is a race; if it’s easy, you’re not racing.

Because I can
I know what it feels like to have running be so painful that I can’t.

What I don’t know is how it would feel like to not be able to run — to not even be able to walk. I hope that I never have to learn what that feels like.

Which is why I spend at least a portion of every run being grateful for running.

Learning how much I am capable of 
Running teaches you that you are capable of so much more than you thought you were.

I wasn’t going to race. I wasn’t going to race anything longer than a 5k. And when I ran my first 10k, already signed up for that first half marathon, I thought to my self: that was hard — you want to run twice that far?

And yet I have, 11 times and counting.

 What is your top reason you’re grateful for running?

21 thoughts on “5 Reasons I’m Grateful for Running”

  2. I agree Judy! I rode 25 miles Thanksgiving morning and spent a lot of time thinking about what I was grateful for in that moment. I was grateful for the strong legs beneath me, the beautiful sunshine, the fresh air, the pretty leaves, and the ability and freedom to be outside.

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  8. Beautiful post. And agree with all of those points. Also grateful for the positive effect on my health. Both mental and physical. And partly tied in with that, the chats. The chance to put the world to rights and to have some really heartening discussions. ..

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  9. I really love that running has gotten me out of my comfort zone. I signed up for my first half with the intention on running with a friend, who shortly after I signed up for it, said she couldn’t run. I have since then completed 5 additional half’s and completed my first marathon all with training by myself. That definitely is out of my comfort zone without having a friend do it with me. 🙂

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    1. I, too, signed up for my first with friends. One didn’t come, another did but was injured and couldn’t run. I’ve gone on to run 10 more — I train by myself a lot, sometimes with a group, sometimes with friends. I’ve never done a marathon though!

      Good for you for going after that challenge.

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