Why I Run

While I'm running, I often think about why I'm doing it.  Not in a "Good grief, why am I putting myself through this," sort of way, but in a "Why I'm so glad to be doing this right now," sort of way.  Sometimes I compose #whyirun tweets in my head which go untweeted, because when I get home I just want to hydrate and shower as quickly as possible so I can hang out with my family.  Other times I just absorb positive things and put them right back into my run. 

Today, as I was running behind the bowling alley, I was treated to some applause as a live version of "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty was played over the speakers out back.  It was nice to have some cheering, and I got a few lines of the song stuck in my head for a bit, most notably "I got just one life."  I was meditating on that one line for a mile or two, and thinking that yes, I have just this one life.  What do I want from it?  With this one life I want to be as limber and able to keep up as possible.  Heck, not just able to keep up, but setting my own pace.  I want to wear my fun clothes, I want to feel good about the skin I'm in, I want to run with my family and climb mountains and take on the world.  Every step that I run gets me closer to that ideal.  Every step I run is me giving my body the strength to do what I want to do.  Every step I run is me shaping and sculpting the body I was born with into the body that can do everything I dream up.  Why wouldn't I run?