Five Years Running

The beginning of June marks five years since I took up running as a hobby. Five years ago I noticed that I was for the first time in my life starting to get fat. I had no interest in trying to diet, it just didn’t seem like the kind of thing that I would stick with. When I was a senior in high school I ran cross country, I enjoyed it, but had stopped running when I went away to school. Taking up running again seemed like a natural way to fight my growing gut.

So I dug my running shoes out from the deepest depths of my closet early one June morning and for the first time over four years went for a run. That first morning I had a hard time just circling campus, a distance of less than a mile. However I did rediscover how much I enjoyed running, I was hooked. I continued to run not for weight loss reasons, though within a month I had taken the extra poundage off, but because I enjoyed it and it made me feel good.

Running quickly became my main leisure activity. Getting dogs, cemented running as a permanent daily activity. As much as I love running, they love it more. Their enthusiasm is infectious. On days when I don’t feel like running they ensure that I do, they raise an ever increasing ruckus until I relent and take them running. For the past year I have also been taking a neighboring friend’s Weimeraner along on all of our runs. Having another dog along only makes the experience more fun for my dogs. Now any time a meet someone from my neighborhood they almost always recognize me as the guy who gets towed behind three Weimeraners through the streets of the neighborhood.

I now have fallen into the comfortable pattern a beginning every day with a two mile run at dawn, and then ending it with a three mile run at dusk. It is great way too mentally prepare for the day, and also to unwind from the day. I hope that five years from now that I am still running.