This is a question I get asked a lot by everyone from my mother to the foul-mouthed old lady who lives down the street from me (She usually ends her questions to me with the word “jacka**). I usually give them the same answer: “Because I don’t know any better.”
But really, why do I run? I started running in grade school because my friends were running a race. I started running in high school because my friends were joining the cross-country team. But then I stopped running for 14 years only to come back to it. So why in the hell do I run now?
Well, I started running to lose weight because I had gained about 30 some odd pounds (Oh, believe me, I have the sweet, sweet pictures to prove it) and because I had broken up with a girlfriend after three some odd years. At first, running hurt like hell. I am pretty sure I cried after a few of those jaunts around my block, especially when the foul-mouthed old lady down the street would yell out, “Look, everyone, it’s the running of the jacka**es!” But for some reason I kept at it.
Somewhere in that pain of running, I discovered a calm, a peace, a tranquility I had been missing in my life. I also discovered a few blisters, shin splints and a black toenail, but the peace was worth it. From there, running two days a week turned into running six days a week. On the seventh day I rested. Well, sometimes I drank, but that’s neither here nor there. After a year or two of running on my own, I joined running groups in Long Beach. It was there I found like- minded people. Actually, I found some pretty freaking crazy people who made me almost look sane by comparison (Chuck Sohaskey, I am looking in your direction). It was through these running groups (yes, AREC, I am talking about you, too) that I discovered a whole other family. So this would be another reason I run.
But really, why in the hell do I run? I run because it gives me peace, it actually makes me a better person (and this is hard to do), it leads me to other runners, it causes me great and humiliating pain (don’t ask me why I like this), it gets me off the couch and out the door, it gives me something to do with the plethora of running clothes I have bought over the years, it humbles me and enriches me all in the same stride, and it always gives me a goal. I don’t care whether I have a good run or a bad run, a good marathon or a bad marathon. Just being able to run is worth it all. Why in the hell do I run? It is because it is who I am. Let me know why you run and we can include it in the next newsletter. E-mail me at cruzbomb@yahoo.com.