The Benevolence of Running Can be Quite Stunning
During my teenager years, running was part of the school activities and I took part in some additional cross country competitions once in a while without developing any specific ambitions towards it. The short-distance running in school was also not very enticing to me and the years passed by, in which the mere thought all but escaped from my mind.
With work in my hometown and the entire region being rather scarce, I was fortunate to earn a living in an industry that you least expect as someone coming from the provinces and a decade of traveling followed. There was still a lot of uncertainty about what would be coming next, but I was able to pay my bills and slowly built up a reputation of being a hard and diligent worker.
However, the own fitness level slowly depleted until biking in the nature rekindled a fire to pay more attention to my body and soul. And then came the global coronavirus pandemic with severe travel restrictions. My main job moved online as the live poker events were not possible anymore and a travel addict was suddenly stuck at home in the middle of nowhere, completely lost and without a slightest idea what to do.
Is this long enough for an intro or should I get to the point of this blog entry already?
Well, pandemic days were the time when running finally became a thing again for me and it had quite an impact on my life since. The first exploits were rather disappointing as I could barely make it past one kilometre without being out of breath — definitely more than just slightly overweight on 95 kilos.
However, one of the major benefits of running is that almost everybody can do it if the own health permits. You can just grab a pair of shoes and enjoy the fresh air during the jog while letting the thoughts drift away. Obviously, things don‘t remain as simple when the own ambitions increase over time and running can be quite expensive with shoes, shirts, race entries, accommodation and air fare.
Most of my races in the past 18 months have taken place in South East Asia, which doesn’t really come as a surprise. After all, I have pretty much relocated to the Philippines with a fiancee there and my baby boy was born two months ago. A different kind of family emerged there, as I was fortunate to stumble into a local running club in which everybody is very supportive.
Many countries in the region have a very active running culture with plenty of local communities, which come together for the countless competitions every other weekend. And if there isn’t a race, a community run just after sunrise on the islands will do. There are numerous reasons for that to happen, some of which I’d like to point out below.
- Running is not just a solo activity
- It refreshes body and soul equally
- The overall fitness level is improved
- Develops team-building abilities
- It teaches the younger generation a competitive environment
For me, running is physical and mental therapy.
With a demanding job that by default features a lot of stress and time-sensitive pressure to perform no matter what the circumstances are, there needs to be some kind of compensation to make up for it. Whether I wanted it or not, that’s exactly what running has become in the last few years.
When I can grab my shoes and go for a run, no matter how short or long it is, I simply feel relaxed and can sense a different flow of energy for body and soul. Not every run will be good, but even a mediocre one on bad legs is better than no run and to me offers some kind of reset.
During my school years, I was active in several different sports and even competed on an amateur level in table tennis. But that was never going to develop into a serious affair, because the skill gap to the professional levels is tremendous. Just watching the jaw-dropping shots of the world‘s best is such an utter disbelief that it would drown any thought of being able to produce even one percent of that.
The „skill gap“ in running is still tremendous, but the activity ticks all the right boxes for me, because it contains several layers of motivation and satisfaction. With the marathon world record at just over two hours, one would think that scraping to complete the distance in double the time would be a kick in the balls in theory. But just going out there and completing the forty-two kilometres is a hell of an accomplishment that should not be underestimated, no matter what the finishing time is.
A lot of people are quite happy that they do not need to get out of their comfort zone and do something extraordinary. Life is a lot simpler without the need of physical and mental exhaustion, but likely also a whole lot more boring as well. It might be a different kind of boring grind to keep showing up and completely the three to five weekly runs, but the consistent mileage does wonders in preparation for the next big race.
The pandemic taught me an important lesson and I am glad it did, even though it’s sad that it was needed in the first place. Staying in the same narrow little bubble was not going to be an option for me and I asked for advice to break out of the misery. All the years of laziness and complacency didn‘t help and baby steps brought slow progress initially, but I quickly learned that biking and running were going to be my favourites again.
Not being able to even finish 5km without being out of breath and having to stop in order to walk was kind of devastating at first, but regular practice helped. One winter day in January 2022 with snow flakes starting to fall, I randomly went out for my first long run without any specific target in mind and finished the half marathon distance in two hours and one second.
I still couldn‘t muster up the courage to look for a local running club, because it didn’t make sense to me with my job picking up again and requiring me to travel for two thirds of the year.
That all kind of changed as of late 2022 after I competed in my first official half marathon race in Singapore. The time was not what I was hoping for but there was plenty of room for improvement and the “innerer Schweinehund” was woken up. Below is a summary of what unfolded thereafter:
Going from almost zero to nearly one hundred percent is obviously not for everyone and I would certainly not recommend to try such an audacious timeline but rather take a far slower and more steady approach. It worked for me because I am used to this mental fortitude due to my work as live reporter in the poker industry. These consistent running competitions have become an option to release the stress and recharge the body battery, at least that’s what my Garmin watch keeps telling me.
The last marathon was in the desert near Las Vegas — the “Running With the Devil” by Calico Racing. Thankfully, it was not as ridiculously hot and a few days prior to the heatwave let the temperatures rise to 48 degrees Celsius on the Strip. However, the dry heat and burning sun turned the race into a challenge and only thirty of us even made it through.
The five hours and 40 minutes were a little slower than expected, but the lack of sleep and rest certainly contributed to the mediocre outcome. Then again, it was really just about survival for this one and a training session for my first proper Ultra Marathon at the end of July with 100 kilometres representing another huge milestone.
Several other long distance races are planned for this year including my first-ever Major — the Chicago Marathon in October. Hopefully, my legs will stay as strong to finish the first one in style and hopefully a new personal best. And if not … well, there is always next time.