Obsessed Runner Blog
2023.06.21 - The aging runner
If all goes well, we keep aging up. That said, I cringe when people play the age card in regards to their running. Comments like, when I was your age or, just wait until you’re my age. Forget age and you become ageless! Ok, the reality of aging comes with real changes. Thinking back when my marathon pace was faster than I can run a mile today is a reality, but so is the fact that my love for running has not diminished, dare I say, I continue to enjoy the sport more each year. Perhaps some of it comes from not having the personal best pressure or the strict schedules I would try to follow. For sure the training feels no different as my pace continues to slow. The hard work and the smile that comes from the accomplishment are intact. There are new challenges, like more recovery time needed between workouts and injuries, but the enjoyment of the run has always been about learning, growing, and doing hard shit.
Run forever,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed, ageless runner. Dig it.
2023.06.14 - Runner's Block
After all these years of running, I still have days like today, where I’m trying to head out after 2 days off from running, where I feel nervous and worried, as if I may have forgot how to run or that the 8 miles I plan to run is an intimidating distance, even though it’s not even my weekly long run . These are not rational thoughts, my best way to explain it is that it is a similar feeling of when I have writer’s block. As I always say, I’m writing my midweek thoughts to myself, hoping to strike a chord with some of you … Now I’m nervous thinking it’s just me and you are thinking, what the hell is he talking about. Ha. The run went fine, duh.
Don’t overthink it, just get your butt out the door,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner and at times bit of a head case … but usually just for a couple minutes, until the run does its magic and I realize I am powerful and confident, one with the Gods! I just hope you get the idea! Ha.
2023.06.07 - An Honest Run
I seem to be seeing more stories of runners cheating by cutting courses during races. If true, this strikes me as just sad. Running itself is so pure and honest, we run, and the distance and times, slow, fast, meeting our goals or being disappointed, tells our story. Each run becomes part of us and the rich history of our running life, if we cheat any of it, we ruin all we have achieved. That said, our personal bests can never be taken away from us, they are ours to take pride in and tell stories about, right up to our last breath! And the runs that went bad, and how we delt with them, or how we accepted them, are the learning experiences that make us who we are. Through pain, we grow.
Run true, it’s what we do,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner, who will be camping and running trails this weekend! Join me!