I once had a mentor ask me about why I ran so much. After 10 minutes of dodging the question with typical answers like:
"To feel good"
"To look a certain way"
"To take a break from the world"
They then said, "okay, let me reframe that question. What are you running from?"
I was almost offended. Me? A run coach? "Well, I'm definitely not running away from anything." I rolled with that and kept running away from that question and my problems and that worked great!
Until it didn't.
At the time, I was using running as a way to escape personal issues, but didn't want to admit it. We all go through hard traumatic times - body image issues, diet culture, a bad break up, fear of failure. We can utilize drugs to get away from issues all we want, but eventually there will come a time in which you don't have running, skiing, biking, lifting, etc.
I decided to stop running away from my background and start running towards it. By truly unlocking my roots and starting to dig deeper into why I was utilizing running like a drug, my entire mindset started to shift. I started to find a passion for running that I never had before, something that helped me dive deeper into my mind, body and soul to figure things out.
I took a step back and started with my roots, my "why," per say. Whys change and they can be happy or bad, they don't need to always be positive sayings like "I run for internal satisfaction." If that's true for you, then AMAZING! I know that most of the time, when I said that, I was lying.
The crazy part was that once I accepted that my roots were messy and had a lot more to do with external satisfaction, not only was the fuel used to help me reach run goals I had never experienced, but the more I dove into my roots, the more they untangled and solved themselves. To this day, I still have plenty of insecurities and things I am struggling with. The truth is that I know a lot of them may never fully go away and I may develop more as I grow as an individual. Utilizing and being aware of all these things is what makes me who I am and the more we all do that, the stronger we can become.
Be vulnerable, ask questions, ask for help, talk to people. Start with your roots.
Blog Post written by Jacob Oak | personal trainer, run coach, and gait analyst that works with endurance athletes through Oak Endurance and Performance Running Gym.
Comments