National Running Day

I learned from the Runner's World blog that today is National Running Day. According to the official website, the mission of National Running Day is "to designate one national day to promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise." Which is pretty ironic because this morning I had an awful run. I woke up early to beautiful weather and was looking forward to going out for an easy 4 miler along the West Side Highway. My legs were feeling really sore from a difficult yoga class yesterday though, and they felt like lead for most of the run. I tried to focus on the beauty of the scenery as I ran - the yachts docked near the World Financial Center, the Statue of Liberty, the weeping willows by the Museum of Jewish Heritage - but nothing was working. Not even country music on my iPod could take my mind off the fact that my body just did not want to be running today. I struggled through the 4 miles, and limped home to stretch and take some ibuprofen.

Today, running certainly didn't feel "easy" as National Running Day would like to promote. In fact, it seldom feels easy to me. I love running, but I hate it, too. I hate when I'm training for a race how I have to wake up early on Saturday and go for a long run. Sure, I may feel good while doing the long run and accomplished when it's finished, but I'm complaining all the way from the time my alarm going off til about one mile into the run when I hit my stride. I hate having to wake up at the crack of dawn and climb out of my warm bed on workdays to go running. Sometimes I don't want to go at all, and I hate how I feel guilty when I don't. The New Balance love/hate running campaign perfectly describes how I feel. It may not be as positive a message as National Running Day would like to promote, but it's the truth about running. Running is hard, and sometimes it hurts. Sometimes I hate running, but honestly, I hate not running more. And that's why, bad run and lead legs and all, I'll be out there tomorrow to give it another shot.