Why I run

23 Jul, 2023

If you've read the title, a mental image might've popped up of someone who's an experienced runner and has his shit together. Rest assured, that's not the case.

I work in tech, I spend most of the day sitting down while having access to numerous 'info-points'^{1 1} Info points being HackerNews, Reddit, Wikipedia and YouTube. where I can gather knowledge. Sadly, the knowledge I am gathering can variate. It can be knowledge that makes me improve in my career, but it can also be spending 3 hours looking at how Orca's have fads & trends just like us humans.

Now, at the end of a day filled with layers of work and procrastination (which includes going down rabbit holes which usually begin on HackerNews), my mind is in override and it's the main cause why I start acting on autopilot.

This is where running comes in. I dread it. I dread it for hours. Sometimes I dread it for weeks, even though I'm fully aware of the feeling I'll have once I'm done with my run. My mind gets clarity, it doesn't care about Orca fads anymore, it's clear, fresh, and in the end, I'm 10x happier than I was before the run.

It's funny how our minds work. They know that if we do this certain 30 minute activity, we'll feel much better, but we'll rather ignore the painful part of the run and replace it with mindless scrolling and digging into subjects of no use to us.

Anywho, yesterday I've ran 10 kilometers, which is 5 kilometers more than I usually do and it felt simply amazing. My mind was clear, I ate healthier, I went to sleep on time, and I got a good night's sleep. And all of that, from one activity that took 1/24th of my day.

Mind, why don't you urge me to run every day when you know that it'll make me feel better?

Footnotes