Running will never go out of fashion, but in recent months and the past year, I’ve noticed an uptick in the amount of people running. This realisation isn’t only a causation of the 0.5x-wide-angle-long-arm selfies I see on my Instagram feed, it’s also the amount of people running on the streets. Maybe I just live in a running friendly neighbourhood. Maybe I have a skewed memory of the amount of runners in previous years. But I’ve also noticed a main trend: there is an increase in people training for half marathons! It’s the new craze. Did the gorp-core trend provide us with enough clothing to brave the elements and run outside, rain or shine? Did our love for Salomon’s XT-6 act as a gateway drug to trail running? Did Outdoor Voices encourage us to just get moving? Did our Apple watches ping us to notify us we were far away from our daily movement goals? Or is it that we like to hone in on our competitive nature, and Strava allows us to measure our stats and share with our friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies alike? Maybe it’s because we’re sitting at desks all day only moving our fingers on trackpads and our eyes on screens so our limbs are quaking with energy by 5 o’clock? Everyone has a different reason to run. But what is mine?
Not long ago, in a kitchen conversation with my dear roommate and friend Alphee, I raised my observation and she called attention to a great point: perhaps there are deeper reasons behind it, and maybe we are just getting to the age in which goal setting becomes within reach as we near and bask in the ages of what I call “peak freedom” (there will be more on that topic another time). At the core, completing a half marathon (or any distance of race for that matter) is a goal, an accomplishment, and a milestone. She also inferred that for many of us city dwellers in our mid-to-late twenties, it’s rare to be able to afford a down payment on any sort of housing whether that be a condo, an apartment, or a house. We are underpaid and overworked! Typically, in previous generations, at this age, not only were they walking from the bank into freshly purchased dwellings, but they were also nesting: preparing for the stork’s incoming delivery to drop off their first babies. By now, we know that many in our generation have delayed these occasions, in fact, perhaps indefinitely for some of us. We may never own a house and have a nuclear family, or possibly it will happen later in life. With this in mind, Alphee and I concurred: a half marathon is a milestone that is achievable for some, yet impressive and challenging. As a matter of fact, Alphee is training for the Montreal half marathon that happens in September. I know she will do awesome. She consistently trains like a champion and she has wanted to do this for a long time, but she’s also mentally strong. On my end, I had planned to do one in May this year, but I decided that at the moment I do not want to pay $$$ to run a race, because I’m trying to save for other things and don’t feel like cramming a HM training program into three months! Been there, done that!
So as I scroll through my phone and I notice plenty of buzz around running, I cannot help but reflect on my own journey with the sport. I once did a half marathon, and last year signed up for a second one whilst in mania – but did not do it (thank you to my dear friend and colleague Jeremy for stepping up and completing it on my behalf), yet I know that eventually one day I will complete another. I think that it will be on a day when I feel ready, perhaps when I’m once again flirting with mania and have plenty of energy. 😉 But of course, I’m going to take my Olanzapine after!
My first half marathon was almost 5 years ago and I’m currently not in a rush to do another one, because at this moment in time, I know that I like to run between 3-13 km on average. At 3 km, I still have energy, but I feel happy that I ran in the first place. At 5 km, I am able to run my “race-pace” and tire myself out. At 7.5 km, I’m hungry for more and I am wondering if I could have made it to 10 km. And at 13 km, I’m pretending it’s 13 miles and celebrating myself and my accomplishment at the end! But back to the half marathons and our motivations as runners, here is my memory of doing mine and a bit of my inferences about the craze for running. I hope that if you are planning to do one, or just starting out, you will have a lot of fun with it, and don’t forget to stretch after. 🙂
Bedtime has always been a considerably anxious time for me, all my life. Sleep has always been a hard task for me to do. As a child, I was incredibly scared of sleeping alone. I would crawl into my parents bed, every single night. One of my greatest difficulties of my adolescence has been to fall asleep, and stay asleep. It has been unfavourable for my brain and health, and I spent my late teens and early twenties constantly tired. Now, I’ve luckily mastered the art of falling asleep and staying there until morning.
In March 2019, my therapist at the time told me I needed to find a physical activity that would expend enough energy to make it possible to fall asleep at night, after suffering from insomnia for years. So of course in true Sophia nature, I impulsively decided that I would run a half marathon. In 3 months. In Whistler. Where there are plenty of hills. In the heat of the summer. It was only March at this point, and the half marathon was scheduled for June 1st, so I had some time to train. While I didn’t have a background in long distance running, I lived (and still live) an active lifestyle, so I knew it was within reach. I wasn’t quite a couch-to-5km beginner, but I certainly had no exposure to long distance running.
My relationship with running started when I was fourteen years old. In fitness class, we went on “Monday Run-day” 3-5 km-ish runs. That was the first time I used Strava. Later on, I joined the cross country team in my senior year, however, due to my psoriatic arthritis, I could not continue past the first two weeks. After that, I occasionally ran on the treadmill for the next two years, sometimes sporadically running outside when the weather was nice and I felt the urge to do so.
Looking back, I think there are several reasons I chose to run in 2019 which may seem obvious, but I think they’re important. The first, is that it’s completely free (if you have a pair of shoes to run in, and some clothes you can move in). (It was originally suggested to me to take up boxing, but I could not afford the classes or equipment at that time in my life, as a student. (Years later I started training in Muay Thai, which is my second love affair with a sport, and I am looking forward to returning to it later this year)).
Another great aspect of running is there are very low barriers to entry. You just have to start one day. At any time in the day. Just put one foot in front of the other. Walk a little bit. Jog, run, sprint. It’s up to you, do it how you wish. What’s also great is it’s usually an outdoor activity, unless you are tied to the idea of running on a treadmill. Finally, you can make it a social activity if you so wish. Personally, I tend to run alone. I like going at my own pace, wearing my headphones, imagining I’m in a music video, and grossly spitting when my mouth is full of saliva. But I’m looking forward to trying group running when the weather is nicer!
There are plenty of other reasons why I love running, but I don’t need to list them all. As a young student in a flat city, I picked my activity to tire myself out before bed. It didn’t work, but that’s because I was battling something different than insomnia. My hypomanic states and cycles combined with the stress of pursuing a degree I disliked made it very hard to get some shut eye.
Anyways, for three months I tried my best to stick to a free training plan template I found online. When the day of the race came, my parents drove me to Whistler and we stayed there one night in advance due to the 7am start time. We brought my beloved dog Willy, and on the way there, I forced my dad to stop in Squamish to con him into buying me a Ciele cap as a “pre-race motivational gift” and a “way to easily spot me in the crowd”. I just wanted to look cool and play the part of a runner. Of course, as generous as my dad is, he obliged, afterall I guess he also felt like I had earned that token Ciele cap.
Race day was a blur, and of course I couldn’t sleep the night before, but there are some fond memories I still have:
- The first is how sore I was the following minutes, hours, and days after crossing the finish line. I was in serious pain!
- I also remember all the hydration and snack stations along the route. It started my deep appreciation for electrolytes. Nuun tablets are my guilty pleasure!
- I loved the experience. I was in awe running through the scenic streets of Whistler after running in Montreal for the majority of my training. God, it’s so flat and grey here in the spring, and the pavement jumps up to trip you! How rude!
- The children lined up on the residential streets with cowbells to cheer us on. It was so special.
What I remember the most though is a sense of community that I felt with the other people challenging themselves to do a dance with 21 km of asphalt and trail. Funny enough, even though I didn’t speak much to the other runners that day, I felt immense camaraderie. What’s even funnier is that I was running closely to another woman near the end, maybe for the last 5 km. At first, we silently cheered for each other, and in the last push, as we ebbed and flowed passing each other while the other took a small walking break, we said some words of encouragement. “Keep going!” “Come on, we’re so close!”, even high fiving through the pain. It turns out we both were using Strava, and the GPS in the app recognized how close in proximity we were for 30-45 minutes, and due to having a public account, she was able to find me afterwards and congratulate me in the comments!
Would I do it again? Maybe! But only when the time is right and I can run and talk for 15 km. God knows I love to yap, and running 21km can become a bit of a mental game. I need to be able to talk to my fellow racers next time. 😉
I still run to this day and in the years since, I wax and wane in between running sporadically and consistently, but I’m consciously trying to lean towards consistency now. Just like Alphee. She inspires me to keep running, she teaches me how to warm up properly, and she cheers me on for every run I complete – no matter the distance. It’s free, it activates my fight or flight reflex, I think a lot when I run, Spotify curates running playlists based on my music now too, and I love the fresh air. I come up with some of my best ideas when I’m eating asphalt and gravel for lunch and dinner. I won’t run on a treadmill these days, as I find it too gruelling on my hip flexors and mentally quite boring, but now I will always make sure that I warm up and stretch after. You should too. 🙂
Third times a charm! 