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[Ed. UPDATE: For some reason comments were turned off when this posted this morning. My apologies - I've turned them on as I'd love to hear your thoughts. Ah, the meeting of technology and fumbling digits...]

In my evening travels from one blog to the next, I find myself perpetually returning to Andrew’s blog (AndrewIsGettingFit.com). Andrew describes in vivid, technicolor detail his successes and failures on his quest to change his health, for good. Today Andrew posted a question to his readers. He said:

“For those of you who run, maybe you could share some of the things you love about running in the comments or on your blogs?”

I thought it was an appropriate question, given that today I went for a run when I would have loved to have skipped it. I forced myself out the door, and did it anyway. It was the right choice.

But why? Why run?

For me, I have similar reasons to Andrew. I feel that as long as it’s within my ability to do so, it is what I want to do. In other words, as he said, simply because I can.

This year I am in essence redefining what I want out of my work, and in many ways how I want to spend the next chapter of my life. While I can concede that this is the territory of a culture that is generally more privileged than many others (meaning, not everyone has the luxury of changing their life mid-stride purely because they want to do, well, what they WANT to do), the process itself is quite a challenge. When you start to evaluate the first half of your life, you realize that you are good at some things, and conversely, there are some things that from this vantage point, are no longer a possibility no matter how badly you want it. And to be honest, there are some things at which you just plain suck.

For example, I know that in my mid-30′s, I will never be a professional baseball, basketball, or football player. It is just not going to happen. I also know that I am no good at poker – I’m too “sweaty” for my own bluffing good. I will never be a fighter pilot, though that wasn’t really in my scope to begin with, but still – were I to ask, the answer would undoubtedly be a resounding “No.” I will never be a professional skateboarder, which WAS in my set of goals as a teenager. Too old now, and well, my knees and wrists are old enough to know better.

However, one thing is within my power: to spend the remainder of my 30′s in the best physical shape that I have been in since high school. While I may not be the next Michael Phelps, I can certainly do better than being the next Homer Simpson.

So this is one reason for which I run – I don’t want to be Homer Simpson.

But why running? In a nutshell, running is meditative for me. When I run, I can focus on my breathing, and one other thing – often a life puzzle that I’m trying to solve. When you run on a warm day, there is nothing better than closing your eyes, tilting your face to the sun, sensing the wind rush by your legs, and feeling like you are flying. It is a lot like the first time you ever rode your bicycle with your hands off the handlebars.

So really, the bigger reason? Because I get to feel, for a few imagined moments, like I can fly.

And by being able to fly, I gain focus.

It may sound a bit like a shoe commercial cliche, but if you’ve experienced it, you know what I mean.

How about you? Do you run? Why? Why not?

Today’s run: a new personal best for the year

Let me just say straight away: I did not want to run today. I was struggling with a few things this morning, not the least of which was feeling that I did not have nearly enough time in the day to do everything that I needed to do. And unfortunately when I wake up on Monday morning with this sort of thing on my mind, it often equates to putting off exercise in favor of just getting straight to work.

However, this morning was different. I needed to get my thoughts together, and I wanted to set a positive, “fit” tone for the rest of the week. So I decided to stick with my plan of going out for a run. My original idea was to do a new run around the local community college of approximately 3 miles.

The trail was new to me, so I was hopeful that it would be well-marked. It wasn’t. In trying to run the basic loop of 2.17 miles (and then double back), I got off course, and based on my time, I think I ran closer to 3 miles trying to find the right path. At the end of the 3 miles, I was feeling really good, and decided that I’d like to run the course again figuring that it would be easier to find the right trail from the opposite direction. I got off course again (in the part that I missed the first time around), but it was well worth the detour: I ran paths through a green and shady forest, over bridges and past vantage points overlooking ponds full of lilies and and lined with moss. It was beautiful, despite it being a little confusing.

All together, here’s my route:

5.83 miles (9.38 km) which is a personal best this year. Not bad for flying. And no pain anywhere, which is an even more welcome surprise.

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1. Personal Entry: Building upon the ashes

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