Running Full of Joy

Since moving to Colorado earlier this year on my long term assignment, my running has taken an unexpected turn.  I knew at first the altitude and the dryness were going to make running difficult and that it was going to take some adjustment time.  The traveling back to Alabama on work trips every couple of months threw wrenches into training as well.  Those items were expected though.

What was unexpected was the joy that would reenter my training.

To be clear, I have always loved running and to be clear, I have always enjoyed the training more than racing.  However, even though I love running, sometimes it feels like I am going through the motions in my training.  For a little while, I have been focused solely on keeping my hamstrings, my calf muscles, and everything else as healthy as I can.  Following my training schedule that my coach and I laid out was my focus.  In the process, I lost sight of why I run in the first place.  Because I love it.

A change in location, scenery and weather, is what it has taken to remind me of my love of running.  This re-insertion of joy into my morning training runs has slowly, yet persistently, occured.  It was so subtle at the beginning that I did not even notice it that it was there.  Looking back, there were signs, but I didn't fully notice them at the time.

The going to bed looking forward to the early morning alarm.  The slight excitement of listening to the weather forecast for the next morning and picking out my running clothes for the morning.  The waking up slightly before my alarm and wanting to get out of bed to get running.

This subtle joy was infecting more than just what I thought about getting out the door for training.   It was also entering my runs themselves, with or without me consciously noticing it.  The joy of seeing my breath on cold morning runs.  The joy of hearing my breathing while out running in the early morning before the quietness of the city was shattered by everyone getting out and about.  The joy of the sun coming up over the horizon.

While I have started to realize that I was enjoying my training runs more lately, it had not hit me with the full force that it did this weekend.

On my long run on Saturday morning, I got out early, although not quite as early as I do during the work week.  It was still dark and it was cold.  About 3 miles into my run, even though it was still less than 20º, I realized that I had a smile on my face.  While my face was still adjusting to the cold breeze, the rest of me was filled with warmth.  I took stock of my body, starting from my feet and working up to my head.  Everything seemed to be full of running.

The sun was just starting to inch up as I headed on a new path that I had not run on before.  About half way along this greenway, I looked up.  I hadn't noticed until right then that I had a perfect view of the whole breadth of the front range of the Rockies with the rising sun turning them that reddish-pinkish hue.  Given where I was, there was nothing blocking my view and I was able to take in the Rockies as they were meant to be seen.  Even though I was miles away from them, they appeared massive.  Overwhelming.  Before I knew it and without my mind taking part in the decision, I had stopped and was standing there with a goofy grin on my face looking left and right at this beautiful, impressive scene.  While I felt like staying there longer, soaking it in, I knew the rest of my run awaited.  So I took off again, the smile coming with me.

Next came my recovery run this morning.  I allowed myself the opportunity to sleep in a little this morning before going out for my run.  The sun was already starting to come up when I got out and let me tell you, my normal running routes looked different in the sunlight than in the dark.  I didn't have to worry about looking down to make sure I saw cracks and potholes waiting to twist my ankles which allowed me to look around more.  I enjoyed looking at the houses along my downtown route this morning.  I enjoyed looking at the Christmas decorations that many of them sported.  I enjoyed seeing more people out on their morning walks with their dogs, especially the seeing the dogs part.  Once again, I found myself smiling and once again, my body was full of running.

When I was finished with my run, I was thinking about how my runs had gone this weekend.  It suddenly dawned on me that in these runs, it was not that my body was full of running.  It was that my body was full of joy.  The smile on my face while I was running was the excess joy that my body could not contain.

This was something that I had not felt for some time.  It took some running next to the Rockies, soaking in the view, along with some cold, non-humid weather, to stoke the fire within me and bring the joy back to the surface.  But it is back and I am hoping it stays for a long, long time.