My heart is racing. My hands are shaking. Sweat is dripping from parts of my body I didn’t know I could sweat from. My legs are ready to give out and are screaming in pain. Tears are pouring from my eyes, and yet, I hear a laugh breaking from my chest. The music is loud in my ears, but all I can focus on is the sound of my heart pounding. My prayers are running wild, and my thoughts are clear. This is the moment I have been waiting for all year long. The adrenaline is kicking in, and I know it’s sink or swim. As I race across that finish line, I’m on cloud nine, knowing that this was all worth it.
I know some will never understand my ambition when it comes to running. Why would someone not only get up early on their weekend, but also pay to run in a race?
Regardless of how others feel about running races, I love doing it.
For starters, I used to run for charity. I know it’s easy to, say, just write a check from the comfort of your couch, but I prefer to put in a little bit more of an effort, and running for a good cause is a little more motivating. Secondly, I love running because of the feeling I get around other runners. Races are this mixture of all different types of people gathered for the same reason: to run for something. Whether it is for charity, for health, for confidence, for endurance, or simply to be like Forrest Gump, these people just felt like running. And thirdly, running like a drug that you don’t want to come down from: runner’s high.
Runner’s high is by far the best kind of drug on the market.
It will beat any alcohol or over-the-counter drug. It is just that good. While it is not for all, a runner’s high is just the euphoric feeling from the best kind of pain, with all of these amazing positive vibes washing it away so that you can focus on the fact that your body just did something a lot of people’s bodies could never do. Every time I run, finishing races with a mixture of tears and laughter, I look like a person who just escaped the insane asylum because the high is just this crazy feeling of accomplishing something that you’ve always wanted but were too scared to do.
When I was a kid, people told me that I was never going to be a good runner. I lacked ambition. I lacked the motivation to practice running. I lacked the physical ability to run (I was told I ran like a gazelle). Hell, people even made fun of me because in basketball, I would run with my tongue out, like a dog that was concentrating too hard (I think I have surpassed that embarrassing stage in my life, but I don’t run past mirrors, so here’s to hoping!)
While I might not be the most graceful when it comes to running, I prove the doubters wrong every time I finish a race.
I also prove to myself that I can run races, while they’re probably sleeping, eating brunch, or doing something less productive with their weekend mornings. I know insane people wake up early to go for a run on the weekends, but running beats sitting around and doing nothing. As runners, we know we’re batshit crazy, but we’re OK with it.
The point I’m trying to make here is not that you should take up running (even though you should; every hour you run adds seven more hours to your life!); it is that you should go out there and do something that you have always wanted to do, but have been too scared to try. No matter how many times in the past people have told you “no” or that you weren’t going to be good enough, you need to pursue your passions and look for your runner’s high.
Look for those things that make you excited to wake up in the morning and take on the day’s new challenges. Look for the things that scare you, and go after them. You’re getting nowhere sitting on the sidelines in life, so now is the time to pursue what you have always wanted to do and not look back until you have proven everyone wrong.
The lesson? Do the things that scare you the most.
Whether it be running a marathon, quitting the job that you so desperately hate and pursuing a career in synchronized swimming or simply asking that person out that you have been losing your heart over, do it.
Stop hesitating and put yourself out there.
You might fail, but you will never succeed if you don’t at least try. You’re getting nowhere just talking about it or letting the people who tell you “no” win. There is no time like the present to attempt to do something that can change your life for the better. Who knows; maybe you will even find your runner’s high.
Previously published on Hunny, Learn From Me.
Featured image via Morgan Sarkissian on Unsplash
