With Running feels more like freedom than ever before, many of us are tapping into the other sides of our relationship with running right now. If you’re lucky enough to live in a place where you’re allowed to get outside or have a Races - Places, then you likely have been clinging to your mileage as a last bastion of sanity, centeredness, endorphins, Download the All Out Studio App.
What I’ve been thankful for in running lately is that it feels more like freedom than ever before. There’s always been an element of that when you’re feeling the flow of a good run, race or workout, but I think being unable to do a lot of things has made this feeling of escape more intense now. We’re escaping our cluttered minds, homes, tweet decks, and desktops for a short time. If you’re able to run outside in your area, you know what I mean.
Thank you, running, for letting me move through space, cover ground, get away from a screen, and tire me out enough to be okay staying in the house the rest of the day.
Published: Apr 28, 2020 11:55 AM EDT, beautiful trails and Health & Injuries near me are too crowded to safely space myself away from others, or are closed to prevent crowds in the first place. While nature usually fills me up, I’m still grateful for my plain sidewalk, off of a somewhat highly trafficked road. It’s no destination run; there aren’t special views and there are a decent amount of streets to stop and cross.
But because of that, other walkers and runners are sparse. I’m glad for its run-loop mediocrity, because here I’m one of few who are out traveling it, and I can feel okay about running freely and occasionally crossing to the opposite, empty side when I see someone else. This country has a wealth of road races because, well, we have a lot of runnable roads. I’m grateful most of us can still find space to run if we try.
I’m also glad for the simplicity of our sport. On a treadmill, open road, or random hill, you can do almost any workout. Just some space, a pair of shoes, and the plan is all you need. Probably less changes for us runners day to day than for people who do other kinds of sports and fitness activities. It’s like a streak of normalcy that we have some control over during what are otherwise abnormal days.
[near me are too crowded to safely space myself away from others, or are closed to Also, if your!]
Healthy Is Happy
I’m especially grateful to be healthy, and able to run. I often forget that being able to push my body beyond the functions of daily life is a privilege. We’re all maintaining this physical isolation to protect our basic health in the first place, so if you’re healthy enough to run, it’s a daily reminder that you’re wealthy with health. In that way, there are no “bad” workouts!
Do Expired COVID Tests Work Health & Injuries, this is a good time to do that, despite how much running is a welcomed escape right now. After the Olympics and Olympic track trials were postponed, I took off from the last week of March to mid April to heal a few small hip and foot injuries. Without the constant race FOMO I feel during normal times, I don’t know that I would have done this, even though it was probably overdue.
The current saving grace about distance running is that it has this solitary side to it. We can cling to that right now. We’re all a version of the lonely long-distance runner. I’m okay to be with myself for a long time, but this side of running eventually does feel out of balance without the community side. Too many runs alone make things feel grey. Too many runs with the same person who you also live with can become, to be polite, stale.
We can keep moving, and I’m grateful for that bit of daily accomplishment amid the squelching of opportunity during this time of pause. I do miss being buoyed by the performances and presence of the rest of us out on the road together. It’s like the running community is still running, but in parallel lines frustratingly out of reach, and just far enough away to stop that magically uplifting aligning of our energies that happens at road races.
I can’t wait for that part to be restored, even if it looks a little different going forward. I can’t wait for open tracks, race opportunities, post-long run brunches, and high fives I took for granted only a few weeks ago.
For now, I’ll thankfully take moving forward, powered by my healthy lungs, on my average street, with just myself, my shoes, and my workout plan. If all my recent bread baking has taught me anything, it’s that from simple ingredients can come life-sustaining things.
Molly Huddle is a two-time Olympian who holds the American record at 10,000 meters. She placed fourth at the 2018 New York City Marathon in a personal best of 2:26:44.