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by Michael Selman It has been said that runners have their best thoughts of the day while out running. Runner and writer Michael Selman shares his "Thoughts on Running" with us here at ontherunevents.com.
I said goodbye to my girlfriend, who was still working on her first cup of coffee, but would soon be out there running herself. As I kissed her goodbye, I told her I was going to be doing a seven mile run, and learn what today’s writing was going to be about. This is often my intent on a weekend run. Weekends are about the only time I have to write any more, and I never even know the subject until the fluidity of the run takes hold, and my stresses melt away as my stride lengthens. Then, the topic comes, and I mold the thoughts in my head as the miles accumulate. When I left the house this morning, it was still dark, and there was a light mist falling. Rain is the kind of thing that often keeps people from a run, and that’s too bad. If you have been caught half way through a run when the rain started, you discovered that you get wet, but you don’t melt, and it really isn’t so bad after all. You’re only going to take a shower when you’re done anyway. So the run was started, and today’s topic started to form in my mind. Sometimes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As long as it was raining, I started to think about how, sometimes, when I run in the rain, I zone so completely that I am not even aware of the rain that is falling. It just melts away. As I was pondering that thought, I realized how often running analogies come in liquid form. Look at my second paragraph. Key words are fluidity, melt, mold, all references to liquid forms. Even the word run itself. Water runs. Solids do not. But what’s the point? Maybe another reason why we run. Life is hard. There are stresses at work, and sometimes, we lose our jobs due to no fault of our own. Relationships are tough. Even the most solid ones have bumps in the road. Children are a challenge. The may provide our greatest joys, but also cause us our deepest despairs. Life is hard. Something that is hard is not easily molded. Things sometimes seem so set in stone, that no change seems possible. But then there is the run. When I run, the blacksmith appears. Running melts the hardness of life, and allows us a sacred time to mold it the way we would like it to be. Running allows us time to explore desired outcomes in a way that the hardness of life might not allow. Running gives us a clarity of vision that life can lead us blind to. Running will not make us richer. Running will not make us find love. Running won’t turn our children into perfect angles. But running can help us find a strategy for coping with work we did not have before. Running can allow us to see a relationship in a different light than we did before. Running will help us formulate the right words to say to a troubled teen. I do believe running can do all that. Why do I think this? Because I have seen how running melts the hardness of life, and makes it more pliable while I am under running’s spell. Running helps me see things simply as they are. Emotions are pulled out of the equation, and possible solutions emerge. Hopelessness melts and optimism emerges from the ashes. Running is life, in it’s most liquid form. And I have learned is that what you mold from a run can keeps it’s shape and form once the run is completed, and the thought solidifies. When you run, you are the blacksmith. Use your runs wisely. Mold your heated thoughts, and reshape your life. Hammer whatever is out of place, and find a way to make it right. Let a run change your being. Go for a run with no expectation except to learn something about yourself during the run. You will be amazed by what you detect. I have educated myself quite often this way, and I have acted on what I have learned. And you know what? Running’s lessons have never ever disappointed me yet.
Thanks Michael for sharing your "Thoughts on Running" with us here at ontherunevents.com Look here for more "Thoughts on Running" by Michael Selman
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This morning, as I prepared to do my morning run, I heard the sounds of
rain hitting the windowsill. It had been a while since I had run in the
rain, but I have always enjoyed it. In a certain way, running in the rain
has inspired me in a way that has not been surpassed by any other
meteorological event other than snow. Isn’t it true how each type of
weather brings it’s own special feel to a run?