Why I Run

I didn't like running when I was a kid. I used to dread going to early bird gym (I had Physical Education in the mornings during high school to churn out an extra class every semester) and nothing added to the misery of getting up at 6AM on the morning of a test day (or multiple tests!) to find out we were doing the mile run that day, and it would be timed. How far would I get this time, I would wonder, before running out of breath? How far ahead would be peers get ahead of me? The thought of completing a marathon never even dawned on me. I suspect my teenage self would of thought it a waste of time, something other people with more physical talent do.

During 7th grade, my parents noticed I was getting "outsized" and encouraged me to join cross country. I hated it. Running was agony for me as I dragged my 150-pound body (really big for a 12-year-old) around while other kids jogged seemingly effortlessly, gliding through the air with what seemed like antelope legs and finishing way before I did, always looking like they wanted to run 5 more miles while I struggled to finish 2. It was a struggle every week to admit to my peers that I had taken almost 20 minutes to do 2 miles, especially since it was a very awkward teenage period for me of trying to gain acceptance and friends. Nonetheless, it was secretly one of the most important things my parents made me do (other than go to Chinese school and keep up my Mandarin, as well as, you know, feed and clothe me) because it gave me a taste of what it was like to run. I didn't feel happy about it, I didn't get the runners' high, but I found out that I was capable of doing it, that it was possible to go a whole cross-country season without dying of exhaustion or giving up.

I didn't run during high school other than the mile runs that the schools forced everyone to do that I rarely finished without having to stop. (A difficult concept for many adults like myself to accept but nonetheless a very real challenge in those years) as I concentrated on other sterling physical athletic competitions such as, math team and chess team (that was a joke btw). It was too cold to run in college most of the time at the University of Illinois, and I finally started running when I moved to Los Angeles for law school. "Every day is a nice day out there!" was the prevailing thought, but it was also to get away from the law school textbooks during a grueling 1L year and just do anything but. That was the dawn of an era: I would be relieved, even look forward to, going out for a run after a long day, and the USC campus was great to run around. Even then I didn't run every day, and only a mile or so.

Los Angeles has a way of transforming one's mindset and getting one to strive for a certain body type, and I played into the stereotype of getting fit. I had moved away from the "obese" threshold during high school due to a growth spurt, but in one way was I in top physical shape in high school, even college. Los Angeles allowed me to go outside every day to work on getting into physical shape, and pretty soon I was proud that I could "go through a whole run without stopping to walk."

Over the years, I've developed a pretty solid running regimen: Run 3 miles around my home or work (the views of downtown are great) without stopping, listening to music or podcasts (and more recently, Japanese). Listening to those podcasts is a good way to unwind and to feel the breeze lapping onto my face after being stuck in a compact room all day, but it's also a great time to just think. Just think about where I've been, what I'm doing right now in my life, and where I want to be. ( I know, you probably have read that exact sentence in like a "Nike Run commercial somewhere) I think about diverse topics whether there's an afterlife, whether I Los Angeles is better than other cities, where my car keys are, how to impress the girl that I'm into, and obviously, what fantasy baseball players I want to put in that day. I've usually not lost, but my mind gets lost in a million different topics, and that's what's so fun about it: it can go where it wants to without my forcefeeding it information like, "memorize this information for the test," or "you need to finish writing that litigation document by tomorrow morning." More than the dietary benefits, more than the runner's high which I developed over the years getting to that great area where the body just feels like it's in the right place, it's the ability to lose myself in running.

I run also to get to know new places. When I went to a new job in Philadelphia, I ran the Rocky steps. When I went to Vancouver for a weekend, I ran around Stanley Island. When I went on a baseball road trip, I ran around Cincinatti's Great American Ballpark (and other stadiums). I run around my neighborhood to meet all the neighbors. I ran in Japan to the experience the momiji (falling leaves) season. I run to experience new things.

I also run to achieve goals. I'm a very goal oriented person (my new goal is to get a 6-pack! Or at least work on my abs and not have a flabby stomach). Kind of on a whim, I decided to do the LA Marathon this year and trained for it in the span of 2 months. Those 26.2 miles were brutal, and I actually don't have very fond memories of it especially the last 6 miles where I limped home a broken man, but like the cliche, the best part of the journey wasn't the destination, it was the journey to get there. I ran long distances (10+ miles each time from my home in Culver City to Venice Beach by myself, and I timed it so I could see the setting sun go down over the Pacific Ocean, one of the best views one can have, in my opinion. AND I'm running, so that really enhanced the runner's high.)  Running down the coastline, in anticipation of a marathon, thinking about life and its full potential, that's how I'd want to spend part of my last day on earth if I had to choose.

In short,

I run to be fit. (I'm in the best shape of my life and I love it)
I run to feel runner's high.
I run to experience new places
I run to reach my goals (recently finished the LA Marathon, never thought I'd do one)
I run to think.

That's why I run.