After the Boston Marathon tragic events a lot of people are wondering why all those crazy runners are going to run the London Marathon, despite the terror and their relatives' recommendations.
I have at least 50 or 100 good reasons to run and encourage you to run. However, I can't betray my magic number 5, so there you go: my 5 reasons why I love running - and why you should start running too!
1. I run to be 'better'. Yes, if I think of any positive adjective, when I run, I feel like I could add the suffix 'er' at the end of the adjective. I love running because it makes me feel stronger, faster, fitter, happier, etc.
2. I run to think. It doesn't matter if I run while listening to some music or in a complete silence, running allows me to connect with my inner self. I can think about many things together or I can think about nothing. I can explore my deepest feelings or just enjoy the sensation of running. When you are running you have total control of your mind if you want - or vice versa, you can simply forget you have a head at all.
3. I run to push myself. Running is a way to feel free, but also to push myself to the limit. I don't run for very long distances: I love sprinting, confronting myself with my friend stopwatch and see how many tenths of a second I can run faster today. And when I fail - most of the times! - I just ask myself why. It's not a tough competition -maybe sometimes it can be a little bit painful - it's a way to say to myself: "Ok, you can do better, both on the track and in life." Pushing myself to the limit means being a better athlete. Pushing myself to the limit means enduring the pain to become a better person.
4. I run to be healthy. Which is not just a matter of "being fit". If I wanted to lose weight I would go to a swimming pool and do a massive workout. Running means being healthy for me, because although running is a very high impact sport, it's the natural way for my body to feel good. My body structure has quite powerful legs, I inherited them from my dad - who's anexperienced runner too. I run to keep my legs as strong as I can, even though they are a bit more muscular than the ones of the models you see on TV. Running allows me to have great general muscular strength and good lung capacity, which means more stamina in every situation.
5. I run to help. I'm not a doctor; I don't have any particular skills that allow me to significantly help my neighbour. I can write and run: I use my writing skills to entertain people, and the running skill to help people, in my way, as much as I can. Running allows you to raise money for charities, but you - yes, you dear reader who are probably wondering if running is for you - you could help by guiding blind runners. It's an amazing experience that will definitely change your life. If you are in the UK and want to try it at least once, have a look at the Volunteering Guide Runners for Blind People, or you can just use Google to find a lot of local information. You won't regret it.
Photo credit laufix