Keys to sustaining a lifetime of running

For the beginner.

I talked to our friend Russ this week.   I asked him the question “Why should I keep doing a podcast on Running when everything has been said and every question answered?  He rightly replied that there are many new runners in our fold since Covid started.  (Probably more psychopaths and zombies too, but that’s another story for another day)

If we agree with the premise that we have a number of new runners with us then we can answer the easy beginner question for them, like ‘What kind of shoes?  How fast should I run? Should I run every day?  How far? Why does my foot hurt? “

By the way the answers are-

• Definitely not flip-flops although the right pari of Crocs is pretty comfy.
• As fast as you want.
• If you want to.
• As far as you want.
• And, because you’re an idiot.

But, that being said let’s assume you’re going to figure all that stuff out and move on the ‘wisdom’ question, which Frankly I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer, but that never stopped me before, so the big question is how do you make running, endurance sports, the pure joy of sweat and movement and the sweet, clean joy of suffering, not episodic, but part of the arc of your lifetime?

And that, my friends was a wholly gluttonous, 77 words sentence.  That mad Russian Nabokov would be proud.

Now that we have our word-clotted, muse-besotted preamble piled up at the gate…How do we create a lifetime of running?

The first thing, the number one thing, is consistency.

Since we’re already referencing Vladimir Nabokov, (he’s a Russian writer and Butterfly aficionado) I’ll stay in the grove.  I remember reading some advice on writing he gave and it was “to write”.  He scolded Hemingway and contemporaries for picnicking and drinking wine instead of getting to the work of writing.

Another writer, you may have heard of, Stephen King, when asked what his secret to success was, answered ‘Butt Glue’ – meaning keep you butt in the chair until the work is done.

The same with our sport.  If you want to do it for a lifetime commit, not so much to the intensity, not so mush to the achievements, not so much to the grand, sweet suffering…commit to consistency.

Focus on building the habit of running.  Make it like brushing your teeth.

Showing up is a win.

The next thing you want to do is consider your frame of reference, your context.

Take the long view.

Adapt your focus up from today’s workout to weeks, months, years, and decades. Consider the long arc of your life.

And when you do this consider your ‘why?’  Why do you want to have the companionship of running over the long arc of your brief existence?  (I’ll give you a suggestion, because it is going to make your life better) But that’s for you to figure out.

“But, Chris,” you may say, “If reduce our running adventure to just showing up everyday for years on end doesn’t that suck the joy out of the journey like my eighth grade gym instructor?”

No, no and I say again no.  That is just a framework to keep you going through the hard times.

When you construct this long-arc view of your, let’s call it a ‘career’, you have seasons within the arc, and within these seasons you have goals and adventures.

Adventures so grand they change you.

There’s that first qualifying marathon campaign.  That first mountain climbed.  That first trail race in the mud.

It is not monotonous drudgery across the decades.  Find your BHAGs – which means Big Hairy-Ass Goals – (head nod to Tom Peters).

You have seasons and campaigns and goals.

As long as these align with your overall mission, your ‘why’ your are all set for the roller coaster of joy and heartbreak (hill) that your life of running will bring you.

And these seasons and goals don’t have to be distance or time or even running.  They can be charity or art.

Give yourself permission to search and to play.  There is no destination to this journey.

The journey is the point.

Set yourself up to win.

Adapt your mission to include continuous learning, with the very real chance of failure.  Because when you focus on the journey there is no failure. There is only experience and learning.

There are no wrong choices only a series of great opportunities.

When you fall down and scrape your knee, literally or metaphorically, smile!  Bounce back up and Smile! You just learned a valuable lesson about gravity and the abrasive nature of the American Blackberry – Rubus occidentalis.

Let yourself fall.

Let yourself fail.

And when it is appropriate. When you are tired and lost and beaten.  Give yourself down-time and vacations from the grind.  Know what your triggers are for changing pace and adjusting.

And there will be long periods of aimless, pointless runs when you don’t think you’re achieving anything.  But, as our friend Russ told us with his great wisdom – “Appreciate maintenance”.

Think of this running act as an anchor, not a constraint.  An anchor creates context and space for life.  A constraint creates scarcity.

Never think of your running life in terms of scarcity.  Think in terms of abundance.  It is always AND nor OR.

You Get to do this.

When you limp around the neighborhood dragging your broken and worthless form like a zombie of death, remember that, YOU GET TO DO THIS.

You have been given a gift.

You are blessed.

And finally, most importantly, find your tribe.  Find those fellow should with which you can share this journey.  The faces and actors will change as you run through your journey but the presence of your tribe will bring you through, time and again in shared joy and common spirit.