Last Monday I set out to do my all-time favorite run. It's a 7.5 mile loop around Caspian Lake from my family's cottage in Greensboro. In one word: gorgeous. Yes, it has a few wicked hills, but the run takes you along a mix of dirt and paved roads, past farms, historic landmarks, along fields looking down on the glacial lake, and past quaint age-old cottages nestled in the pine trees.
So as I prepared for the run last Monday, I was excited. It was early enough in the morning that the weather was not too warm, it was a nice clear day, and things were lining up for a great run. A beam of light seemed to shine down on me as I started out on the run, nothing could crush my spirit. Only it wasn't a great run. It sucked. A mile or so in my spirit was stomped flat as a pancake. My legs were heavy, I couldn't get into a rhythm, I counted down the miles, and I ran the entire loop at least 1 minute per mile slower than I did a couple months ago. There was really no explanation for it, it just wasn't my day for running. And that's how running is, you just never know. Not every run is going to be fist-pumping, high-fiving awesome. It's a bummer, but it's true.
Running can be really, really hard. But like most physical challenges, there's a purpose to the pain. What I find most interesting as a personal trainer and running coach is the physiological changes that happen when we run or strength train. Our muscles get stronger by being stressed, more specifically muscle tissues experience tiny tears. We are actually being broken down in many ways through exercise! According to Gretchen Reynolds, author of The First 20 Minutes, each time we stress our bodies with exercise, our muscle tissues tear apart and then "the tissues rebuild themselves, becoming stronger and more pliable...which happens to be the foundation of fitness." Yes! I believe this happens on an emotional level, too. Sometimes running breaks me down, tears at my confidence, humbles me. But then I run again, and I rebuild myself. I become a stronger version of myself on my next run.
And then eventually, again and again, I will have an awesome run. I will feel great, strong, free. I will be ready to be broken down again. In this way, I am always running towards my strongest self.
We are two sisters living on separate sides of the country. One of the things that connects us, beside our love of hot beverages, is fitness. We love to run and strength train, and share the benefits of exercise with others. From the sisters who created Illume Fitness, we bring you Illuminated Runners: musings on running, cross fit, strength training, family, travel, life, and some serious dorkiness in there, too. "The spirit illuminates everything."
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