Beauty of Endurance

Long distance running has become one of the most spiritual things in my life. It has been teaching me the beauty of endurance. There are these moments of insight that would not happen from a sprint. Running helps clear my head, and show me the world from a different perceptive. The lessons seem to change each time I run. It’s hard to express, but then as a friend recently pointed out the things in life that matter the most are the hardest to explain.

This past month I’ve had a hard time running constantly (poop on allergies, asthma, illness and cold weather). This week has been the first time I’ve been out regularly. Last night’s run was hard, harder then hard -it was brutal! My throat and lungs felt like fire. In agony I repeated asked myself why was I doing this? Why was I purposefully causing myself pain?

The answer came in the finial 50 meters. Not sure where the energy came from but I was able to "kick it" the last bit…not a full out sprint, but I felt like I was flying. It was a beautiful moment. It was freedom. I felt truly alive, fully awake, refreshed and new. As I ended the thought hit me "This is why I run. The pain and sacrifice is worth the freedom." Seems a truth that passes just running, into every area of my life.