Your (inner) "Running Partners"

Today at the gym I climbed onto an elliptical on which someone had left a copy of "Runner's World" magazine.  I don't normally read while on the elliptical, as I find that it makes me slower, makes me motion-sick, and is nearly impossible to do, what with the constant up-and-down motion.  But it was here, and so was I, so I lazily flicked through the pages during my 2-minute warmup and stumbled upon an article that actually made me laugh out loud.  It was short and it was delightful, and, I thought, a fanatastic way to personify the struggles everyone has with their regular workout routine.

You can find the article in its entirety here.


Elisha Cooper discusses his two mental running partners:

"The first is large and loud. He sports a headband and shorts that are too tight, and he doesn't wear a T-shirt, though he should. He has the unpleasant habit, as we start our run together, of immediately badgering me with cutting comments: "Why exactly are we running today?" "Did you really need to eat that extra breakfast sausage?" "I can't believe you haven't finished that assignment, you lazy !*%@!" He's a real pain, my running partner, but it's sort of hard to avoid him since he's in my head."

This partner, however, is too out of shape to keep up, and not too long into the run, falls behind and can no longer be heard.  That's when his second partner takes over:

"This guy is great—handsome, clean-shaven, svelte, with 4.6 percent body fat. He wears a form-fitting T-shirt in all kinds of weather. He's like my faster and more-rugged self, maybe me from 10 years ago. As he glides effortlessly along, he murmurs complimentary and insightful nothings into my ear: "Wow, you are flying today!" "I do believe that cute brunette was impressed with your speed, and your humanity!" "Have you ever thought of writing an essay about the voices in your head?" "Look, a puppy!""

I can't tell you how quickly and utterly I related to this article, even though I am not truly a runner.  At least, not a diehard, daily runner like this gent is.  I run when it's temperate outside.  I refuse to run on treadmills, I will not run when it's any warmer than about 75 out (and then, preferrably cloudy) nor when it's below about 45 out, nor when it's precipitating.  But I do LOVE to run.  Not that I always did.

I didn't start running until I was in the "home stretch", with about my last 15 pounds to lose.  I'd lost about 50, and one day my trainer was running late, and I didn't want to have to "make up" the cardio later (the gym was locked until she arrived), so I decided to go for a jog.  It was a gorgeous, crisp October day.  Why not?  I couldn't have picked a better time to begin running; Denver in the fall is gorgeous and the weather is fabulous.  Being outdoors was a constant pleasure.  It brought a smile to my face, tranquility to my mind, and my bloodpressure way down.  Since then I run whenever the weather cooperates to my liking, and the rest of the time do my cardio on the elliptical, staring out the windows and gazing at the sky, longing for fall.

But I digress.

It was long before I began running that I became acquainted with these running partners.  At first, there was NO second running partner.  The first partner would just bitch and nag the whole way, and by the end, mercifully, simply be somewhat out of breath.  The most positive thing he'd (or she'd) say at the end was, "Thank GOD that's over for another day."  But she didn't just rear her head when it was time to work out, not at first.  Oh, no.  She'd start in THE MINUTE I got up in the morning, as soon as it occurred to me that I had to go work out that day.  BITCH and MOAN.  Coming up with excuses not to do it, pouting, stomping, throwing tantrums, whining, and reminding me of all the "more important" things I could be doing with my time.

After several long months of enduring this, the first running partner became a little more philosophical about the whole thing.  She'd still try to convince me there was no way I could keep pace that day (or any day) at the beginning of the workouts, but she was quickly stifled, and at the end of the workouts I felt GOOD and GLAD I'd done them, instead of just relieved they were over.

After I began running, though...that's when I met the second running partner.  It had less to do with running itself, and more to do with the sense of running away, and leaving it all behind, combined with the exhilaration that I finally *COULD* run, and not even have crippling knee pain, and the fact that I'd been working out for a good 7 months by then, and had undergone quite a transformation, mentally and physically.  The second running partner came out to join me maybe 1/4 mile into the jog, and when I returned from that first run I felt better than I'd ever felt in my life.

While this article captures a wonderful snapshot of a brief window of time, what it doesn't do is illustrate the entire process one goes through.  I'm at a much later stage in my fitness journey now.  I have been working out solidly for a year and a half, and working out on my own for about 5 months with no trainers, no workout buddies, etc.  I've gone from BEING running partner #1, to just encountering her at the beginning of workouts, to having running partner #2 join me, to BEING running partner #2!!!!  That's right.  That's the dichotomy most of us face when we try to change ourselves.  We start out in a bad mental place, and we have no idea how bad that mental place is, until we turn it around.  And when we can look back on ourselves, we can see just how and why it was so hard for us to change our habits, how much we got in our own way, and we can marvel at what a change we've made in ourselves, both physically AND mentally.

So I ask you; can you relate to running partner #1?  Does that inner monologue sound familiar to you?  Have you rarely, or perhaps never, heard running partner #2?  I promise you, he/she exists, even for you.  You've just got to work for him/her, and work hard to set that side of you free.  That's where the entire title and idea for this blog came from; running partner #1, and all her constant deluge of excuses and complaints.  I had to constantly remind myself, "Don't Think.  Don't Listen to that voice.  Just Go.  Go Work Out.  Leave-NOW!"  I encourage you all to ignore running partner #1 and keep at it.  Meeting running partner #2 is so much more than worth it, and in time, you'll find she's really you, and has been all along.  She was just waiting for you to stop thinking...and go! :)