If you follow me on FB then you know this week that I had a great experience with regards to social media and the internet. I won't bore you with the details. Let's just sum it up that I was looking for some dated reading material that has been extremely difficult to find and was able to get it through the kind generosity of a complete stranger for absolutely nothing.
Sometimes working a profession in law enforcement can leave you with a paranoid sense of mistrust in the human race. Somedays all that you see are the worst of the worst. That can really begin to grate on you after a while. It was a pleasant surprise to see that not everyone in the world is a bad person who wants to kill me. Ok, maybe not everyone wants to kill me!
That got me thinking about how social media has positively affected my running and personal life. I can still remember my first forays into the world of FB many years ago. I've always been a really quiet and introverted type of person. I suppose that's why I enjoy running long distance so much. It's easy to do all on your own and running partners are great, but not required.
Soon after joining FB I discovered a whole other group of people who were just like me. They lived, breathed running and had the same hopes, dreams and ambitions that I did. Being a runner can consume you. As a runner you can practically insert running into every aspect of your life. "If I drink that extra beer I'm going to be dehydrated during my six miler tomorrow. It's exactly half a mile to that house down the road with the purple shutters from my driveway. Maybe I can squeeze in a run before that Christmas dinner." The list is endless. Those other people in a runner's life can become quite annoyed after enough of the running is life thing. So, it was really great to find an outlet for my obsession.
Social media has allowed me to become friends with some really amazing runners through the years. How freakin cool is that? Very freakin cool! One thing that I've discovered is that when you're a runner things like age, weight, race, sex, religion, nationality and sexual preference really don't matter. No matter who you are, putting one foot in front of the other is the same for all of us. The rest of the world should take a lesson from us. Maybe everyone would get along a little better if they tried a pair of running shoes on for size. I think that it's just plain amazing when the world we live in gets a little smaller by meeting such great people.
When you meet other runners through social media you begin to quickly realize how little you really know about running. So many people take up running for so many different reasons. Some runners begin to lose weight. Some runners begin to honor those that they have lost in their lives. Some runners begin to because they need to run away from their problems. The list is endless.
Another thing that I like about the runners I've met is that everybody has experience and knowledge that I can draw and learn from. In a perfect world runner's don't get injured, we don't get older and we run on into the sunset when our final day comes. Reality is not so kind. When I first started running somebody said to me that being a runner means that at least one part of your body will be in pain almost every day. Many years later I find that statement to be true. Every day something is a little sore, or something got worked a little too much, or something needs some ice. Having a great group of people who you can ask their opinions on what has worked and not worked for them is valuable beyond belief. Running is a sport that always seems to be evolving. I'm definitely not training the same way that I was ten years ago. That's largely because through other runner's I've discovered new ways to be the best runner that I can.
Some days going out for a run is hard. It's raining outside. You've got a tons of things to get done. You slept terrible last night. Whenever I'm feeling like being lazy, I make the mistake of picking up my phone and perusing the posts of my running friends. There's so much motivation out there that you can't help but get up off that sofa to get some miles under your belt. It's like having your own personal coach and cheering section. I wouldn't be the runner that I am today without all my friends supporting me like they have.
I guess deep down inside of my introverted exterior is a social runner after all. Years ago when I started running it was a satisfying but lonely place. Lots of long miles, lots of changes, lots of discovery. Now, it's much different. I find motivation, purpose, knowledge, hope and friendship through all of the amazing people that I've met through the online running community.
Some cynics will tell you that social media is the worthless. That it only reminds us of how awful our boring lives are versus other people's and that it's full of hatred and discontent for any conceivable topic. From my perspective it doesn't look like that at all. There's a lot of good people out there running good miles and many of them are involved in the online running community. I guess that's one of the main reasons that I started the 366 Project. I just wanted to give a little of what I've gotten ten fold from that community. 142 continuous days later the miles are still coming. As always, thank you for reading my thoughts on this journey. Run for your lives my friends...
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