Love to Run, Run to Love

I quit trail running a couple of years ago. I'm sure I had some sort of "logical" reason at the time... shin splints... poison oak... inconvenience... but the truth is, it was hard. It was just hard. Today I woke up and decided that it wasn't hard, and I believe I just went on the best run of my life. It was steep, I was fast (faster than when I used to run this particular trail every day), and I was smiling the whole way. Did I mention I have been drinking a ton and not sleeping this whole wonderful wedding weekend? Oh, and that the snot pouring out of my nose on this run probably indicates that I'm sick? I decided that I am not sick, I have tons of energy, and that I love to run.

There's a tingly feeling I get sometimes when I am doing yoga. It's a lovely mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration and I savor it every time it takes me over. Today I realized I get the same feeling when I run but I have been associating it only with the exhaustion and have been leaving out the exhilaration, because running is supposed to be hard. I let the exhilaration in and it payed off in a big way. Where else have I, you, we been leaving out the exhilaration? Embrace the joy when life has you breathing heavy, cramping up, dripping snot, because that's what we're here to do. I love to run, running is easy, and running is returning the favor by teaching me how to love this life that is supposed to be hard, but can actually be easy if you let yourself feel the joy.