My girlfriend and I have talked about this on occassion and have come
to this conclusion: if you're doing things right, then running should
be fun, something you look forward to. For most of us as we get older
running becomes less and less about beating people and more about a
personal time of reflection and fun. In high school and college I used
to worry a lot if I'd miss a run or if my weekly totals were under what
I thought I should be doing. I got angry if a pedestrian or a car
would make me stop during my runs. Now I go for a run or two a day
because it's relaxing, when I run with my girlfriend it's time for us
to talk and share our days, sometimes I stop and walk a bit, or use my
run as a nice way to commute...the surprising thing is I'm just as fast
as I used to be when I was all uptight about it. I'm not incredibly
fast but I can run a 31-something 10k on a good day and ran my first
marathon in 2:39 last year. Running's a lot more fun when you treat it
as something to have fun with...not something you have to do to beat
some time or lose weight or as some necessary evil to reach whatever
your real goal is. Running itself can be your goal and is its own
greatest reward if you let it.
-Jeff