Episode 407: But WHY do YOU Run?

Well, you teed me up so nicely, and, uh, you called me the philosopher, which thank you, I'm not one, but I've got one I really respect, and that's Nietzsche, who said, "He who has a why can bear any how." So I think that sure, 80% of the time, you're just living life.

You don't need some deep-seeded why.

But it's the tough times, it's, it's, it's the really hard runs, um, or the hard seasons where you're trying to keep up your running, whatever it may be.

Those are the moments where I think you and I would both agree with this, even if it's different language.

It's like, "Hey, at the very least, we'd rather you have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." That old, I think that was, like, a Boy Scouts quote or something to that effect.

Uh, I, I learned it as a kid.

But it's that same spirit.

It's like I get the woo woo comments all the time.

Um, people have heard of the concept of you gotta have your why in running enough that people kinda can roll their eyes or think of it as cliché, but I think the spirit we're coming from is like, "No.

Hey, when it's tough, we wanna know, like, you're, you're set up for it." Or you could even think about it just as applied to a single point in the race itself.

Like, I don't wanna create this doom, scary kinda feeling, but yeah, there's some value to exploring why the heck do I [laughs] get up so early.

Or we were talking about the Arizona sun.

It's like, why, why would I go expose myself to that? I hope we can help people have, h- help people find good answers to that type of question.

Yeah.

It, it sharpens that reason for waking up in the morning, that reason for doing the work.

It also makes you more resilient in the face of challenge, whether that be a period of inconsistency, injuries that pop up if we're talking about training, or when we get to the race itself, when the going gets tough, when you think you can't go harder or when you think you can't finish strong.

What are you gonna tap into in order to have that staying power? Because you're gonna have tough moments in training, in the race, and this helps you be more resilient through them.

And one of the things I always talk about with this idea of purpose is that, and the reason we want you to spend time on it and drill in- Because most people, when they think of, "Well, why do you run?" They...

When they're answering that question, they might come up with a list of reasons that are all very familiar, perhaps, to people that move in this way.

People will say, "Well, I do it because I, it helps me de-stress," or, "It helps me disconnect from the hard things in life," or maybe, "I do it for health.

I do it for longevity so that I can be on this earth longer and show up for the people in my life in a healthy way." So those are some of the common reasons why people say they run.

But I would submit that what we're talking about here is a level deeper-

Mm

... than both of those reasons.

Those are both great reasons to move in this way, to have this as a moving practice: stress relief, longevity, and health.