Why do I run?

Welcome to Run Like a Kenyon! I’m so glad you’re here!

There’s a lot of pressure in a first blog post and I’ve been avoiding getting started for some time. Then I thought, “You know what? Let’s treat this like a run.” I love running, but some days I just want to stay in bed. Some days my body is tired, my legs hurt, I ate cupcakes for dinner the night before, etc. Those days are hard, but 9 times outta 10 I get up and I lace up anyway because I know that even if it sucks I’ll feel better afterwards – at least mentally. So here it goes, even if this sucks, I’ve started a journey and y’all are along for the ride. Whether you’re a beginner, or seasoned pro, I hope you’ll enjoy being here.

So why do I run? Settle in..

I love food, like REALLY love food.

It’s a common misconception that as runners we can eat anything we want. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve declined dessert or…haha omg sorry I can’t even get through that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken a smaller portion or chosen not to eat something (or drink) and had someone say “Oh, please you’ll run it off”. While it’s true that I burn some serious calories, it’s also true that what I put into my body seriously affects the quality of the run I’ll have later (even days later). Also a typical run burns fewer calories than I’ll intake while rewarding myself for my awesomeness. BUT…over the course of my running journey I’ve learned how to fuel and how to really love good quality foods. Yes, I still eat all the desserts. I’ll go to my grave with a cupcake in hand.

I love crushing a goal. 

I’m not one of those people that can just go do all the things and be happy about it. I need a goal, something to achieve, something to crush. After I ran my first marathon, I swore I’d never do it again. After a year or so I found myself flailing, fitness wise. Sure, I still ran and I even remember telling myself I was just going to perfect my half time. Then my good friend Amy started talking about doing Disney’s Dopey Challenge. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s 4 races over 4 consecutive days. A 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and ultimately the big mamma jamma the marathon. Uh, that’s crazy right? Yes, yes it is. But it’s also awesome and I knew I had to do it (I did, but more about that later).

I love the running community.

Y’all I seriously can’t stress this one enough. Runners are super cool people. Sure, we have our bad apples like any group, but overall I truly find us to be supportive and amazing. I’m in a couple of local running groups and have made treasured friends because of it. During the last leg of my first marathon a girl approached me and said “Hey, mind if I run with you? I just really need a friend right now to get me through this.” I was elated because I was also struggling big time. 

Running is cheaper (debatable) than therapy.

All you need is a good pair of shoes and the open road. Ok, it’s not quite that simple, especially once you get serious about it but lacing up those shoes and getting in some miles is a great way to work off stress. Friends and I joke that we solve all the world’s problems on our long runs. You name it, we’ve probably talked about it. Relationships, finances, religion, politics, poop (every runner is obsessed with poop, it’s a thing), hopes, dreams, fears, unicorns…you get what I’m saying.

It keeps me healthy.

Misconceptions abound on this topic. Anyone heard that running ruins your knees? I don’t believe it. What I do know is that every year at my annual physical the results speak for themselves. I tend to ward off most of the sickness that goes around the office (every hero falls, I just got over a cold last month), and am generally in the best shape of my life. Enough with the humble brags, what I’m saying is there are a lot of health benefits!

Alright friends, that’s it for now. If anything I’ve said interests you then stick around. We’ll talk about it all.