Today I had a great run. It was a perfect fall day, cool, sunny, yellow leaves in the forest, the smell of rotting vegetation. I had new shoes, a very green jacket, my tights and an orange head band. No chance I would be mistaken for a moose. The ground was soggy with water. It has been raining so much that some places there were big puddles I had to navigate over. I did not succeed in staying dry. Not at all. I was soaked by the end of the run.
I just finished a great book. It is called Born to Run. It sounds boring, especially if you are not a runner. But I really loved the book and the way it described the joy of running. You should read it if you are remotely interested.
Of the many things I learned from the book was that running is supposed to be enjoyable. Yeah, I know. Enjoyable. One of the things my sister once told me when I was going for a run and she was happy sitting inside reading her book was: I have yet to see a runner who smiles while running. That stuck with me.
So, back to the book. Chris Mc Dougall thinks we were all born to run. And after reading the book, you will too. And then it is the part about enjoying it.
The last couple of days I have gone for long runs. I decided to follow Mr. McDougall’s advice so I ran slow, took short steps, smiled, and when I started feeling like it was hard work, I slowed down. I even decided to drop the iPod because getting the right kind of music always stresses me out. I decided to just listen to nature and the silence around me.
It has been the best two runs of the year. Honestly.
So I thought about life, in the quiet of the forest, as I was skipping over and through puddles. Life is like a run. We can choose to run it the way we want. We can rush through it, time ourselves, cuss through the intervals, get feet and knee injuries, run out of good playlists, compare ourselves to the others, compete with the best and lose. Or we can decide that we run for the sake of the run. We enjoy the moment, we slow down, we breathe deeply, we listen to the music around us. And we end the race refreshed and ready to start over again the next day.
Tomorrow I will find a new place to run and I am looking forward to it. I am starting to think I was Born to run.
oddnygumaer.com 
Jeg lurer på om jeg vil smile når jeg er ute og springer. Når jeg gjeør det, er det helst for å nå et tog, en buss eller en avtale…og det er ikke noe å smile over når jeg damper som et parfymeri iblandet svette ved siden av en ukjent medpassasjer…..Men å rusle i skogen, til og med når jeg har en superivrig bikkje i båndet og det regner fra en evigtung grå himmel, så kan jeg ta meg i å smile. Rart…
Kom og spring med meg, Ingun! Da blir det smil, sjø.
I feel like I was born to think about running and then never take the time to do it. I just don’t carve the time out for it. Ugh. Up at 5:45, make four lunches, feed four kiddos, skip breakfast myself and get to school on time; on my feet all day then home again by 4:00 when I crash – “No, I don’t want to play outside” “No I don’t want to go swimming”, dinner, clean up from dinnner, four showers, clean up from four showers, reading time, bedtime, prayers and singing and four kisses and hugs, and wham; I’m out! I’m sure Mr. McDougall says something about all this. : (
I think that Mr. Mc Dougall had a very patient wife, and I am not sure if he had four kids. He was also paid to do his research, so, who can’t run when they get paid for it. I remember the days of little kids, no time and no energy left to even do a sit-up. But don’t give up! I have faith in you! When Kristin was a baby I took her in her stroller early in the morning while the rest was sleeping. She got a breadstick to suck on, and when the breadstick was gone, my run was over. My next blog should be called: Born to sleep. 🙂
Dear Oddny,
I love running myself. It’s the best time with God for me. It’s the time I pray and the music I listen to is worship music in either Thai or English. About 3-4 years ago, I thought of quitting my job because it required good physical strength, hiking into Burma and walking in the Thai-Karen mountainous villages. Instead, I prayed that if God would want me to continue doing this work, he needed to help me some how. Then, I started to run again and make it my usual training. My health has got better and better. I did a full marathon last June. I hadn’t thought that I would be able to do this but I did because of God. Now, I can’t stop running. If I feel bad and God is not close to me, I have to go for a run with the same worship music to get back on track.
I just bought the book you read but having a hard time to get pass the first few chapters. I have to try harder for reading. I think running is a lot easier for me 🙂
Hope to meet you in person one day.
Blessings,
salinee
Thanks, Salinee. I wish I cold meet you too. And you seem to be ahead of me in the running game! I have not yet ran a marathon. But I hope to be able to. Keep reading the book. It is a bit boring in the beginning, but gets more exciting as you read! Good luck and hope to do a hike in Burma with you one day!
Oddny