What Is Your Running Philosophy?

There's a lot of different motivations that people can have to run. Some people run for health or to lose weight. Other people just like the social aspects. And those are certainly big benefits that I enjoy, but they aren't the main reason that I run.

Discovering why you run can help you direct your training and which races you are going to attend, and will help you decide when it might be time to play it safe and back off in your training or when the rewards justify pushing your own limits to see just how close to red-lining you can get without actually forcing an injury on yourself.

The big thing for me has always been the competition aspect of running. That's just been one of the greatest motivations for me to get out there.

I like being able to test yourself against how you ran in the past, and how you can run against everybody in your community. With some of the bigger races, I love how you can run against people across the country or across the world, and how when you toe the starting line, there's little to no difference between you and your fellow man. You can be racing a field of elite runners, but the course they run is the same course that you will. It's just fascinating to me.

Now as I've gotten older I've found that I like pushing my limits and running further and further. This isn't to say that I'm enjoying things that others can't do because most people are certainly capable of doing the same feats that I've done. I've found it's just more interesting to do things that other people won't necessarily choose to go out and do and which they wouldn't consider anybody who does do these sorts of events to be in their right mind.

For example, some of my favorite races to date have involved running for 50 miles out in the desert, or racing 50 kilometers back and forth on a 2 mile stretch of road in 97 degree heat. Those are the kind of things I actually enjoy doing that most others would never even consider. I find them fun, just running for hours on end.

The biggest thing anyone can do is just to get out there and make sure that you enjoy whatever activity you are taking part in and to find whatever your motivations are. Once you find what they are, latch on to them and run with it.