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Why I Run - Why We Do It.
Ginette Flockton
Club: Mr Price Celtic Harriers, Cape Town, South Africa
www.mpceltics.com
This is a question asked by runners and more particularly by non runners in view of the following.
Training and races frequently necessitate getting up between 4 & 5am which is not fun. It also limits social activities the previous evening and severely curtails post run entertainment due to the fact that we are asleep. Non running partners are not impressed by these enforced sacrifices.
Long runs over 20k’s are tough, tiring and sometimes painful, especially when hills are included; a form of self inflicted torture resulting in damage to toes, ligaments, muscles and bladder. ( The latter due to us “holding it” for 3 hrs in extreme discomfort) while our male counterparts “go” behind a tree.
We stoically endure chafing to various vulnerable parts of the body – naked running would eliminate this but unharnessed appendages might give rise to worse discomfort.
Short, fast runs leave one gasping and expiring from the effort – also not fun. Weather conditions in the Cape are not always conducive to this outdoor sport and getting soaked and frozen with 10k’s still to go, at 7pm on a miserable wintry night, is not pleasant. A bout of flu inevitably follows which curtails further training so that fitness levels are back to square one.
We suffer emotionally when we fail to achieve our goal time or distance after 100k training weeks and when we are effortlessly overtaken by an overweight participant who recently began a run/walk program.
We smugly imagine that all this cardio vascular activity guarantees weight loss only to discover a previously untapped appetite and permanent state of ravenousness inducing calorie consumption that far exceeds calorie expenditure. In fact runners have no aesthetic illusions while we are dripping with sweat, with hair plastered flat, suffused red faces and bags under the eyes from exhaustion – in addition to exposing the quivering flesh of the anatomically challenged among us. Contrary to belief, running can be expensive. Costly imported shoes must be regularly replaced. Chiropractors, physios and orthopaedic surgeons depend on us to fund their overseas trips and our necessary vitamin supplementation does not come cheap.
So why do we do it??
Could it be the joy of being alive in the small hours of a sparkling, clear morning running amidst idyllic landscapes of cool green forests, pastoral valleys, mountain scenery and glistening coastlines? To be confronted with a view such as on the crest of Redhill over Simonstown when the brilliant reflection of the rising (or setting) sun transforms the sea into a shimmering silver carpet, is incomparable, and nearly worth the effort of getting there.
For physical and emotional health running way surpasses the confines of the gym. Unlike cyclists we don’t compete with Mercedes and minibuses on the road and it is much more sociable than cycling where communication is limited to “passing right” and other less polite commands. Also, careening down Chapman’s Peak at 60kph somewhat restricts appreciation of its spectacular panorama. We connect with everyone, running is a great leveler. The camaraderie, empathy and humanity amongst runners is unique in the sporting world. The last one in enjoys nearly as much encouragement and acclaim as the first. Personal victories abound at all levels. There is no better de-stresser as serotonins are released producing a mellowness and wellbeing that overflows into every day life helping us manage challenges and frustrations.
Call us masochists, call us addicted, but our “highs” are the best!
Ginette Flockton