Running Doesn't Suck
Running the Wrong Way Does
Running doesn’t suck. Running the wrong way does.
Running hard when you’re supposed to run easy sucks. Running long when you should really run short sucks. Running hurt when you shouldn’t be running at all sucks. More running when what you really need is more recovery sucks. Forgetting that running won’t always be easy sucks. Believing that running is always supposed to be hard sucks too. Running against yourself instead of for yourself sucks. Running as a punishment sucks. Running to lose something instead of gain something sucks.
Believe me, I know we can do all sorts of things to make running suck. But it’s not supposed to! Running is meant to make you more of who you are meant to be… not less. Running is supposed to lift you up… not beat you down. Running is supposed to end with you wanting to run again… not with you running away from the next starting line.
You are supposed to end your runs with you better in some way. Yes, every run. Running can help you get fitter, faster, stronger, happier, less stressed, more joyful, confident, braver, happier. None of that sucks. Sure, running can challenge you and push you and frustrate you and confuse you. But those are all a part of the process of learning. And running is all about you learning more about yourself, your fellow competitors, the sport and this life we’re all trying to live as best as we can.
And yes, running can break your heart. A broken heart hurts. Some would say it sucks. What can I say? If you care enough about anything you are opening yourself up to having your heart broken. It’s worth it. That’s what I think. Besides, a broken heart isn’t proof that something inside you is broken. It’s proof that things inside you are working! The heart is a muscle after all. And working out and breaking a muscle down is part of what it takes to strengthen and grow that very same muscle. And when that muscle is given the time and grace it needs to repair it comes back even bigger and more powerful.
Running does not suck. Running is for everyone and there is room on the starting line for everybody. And running wants us to enjoy running. Running wants us to be better because of it. Running doesn’t want us to get hurt or lose confidence. Running wants us to become closer to who we are supposed to be with every run we do. Running wants you to be a part of the sport and not apart from it. Running wants you to be proud of yourself for trying your best.
How can anything like that suck? It can’t! I heard some of you shout that along with me. That was a rhetorical question. You didn’t need to answer that one out loud. But I think it’s kind of cool that some of you did. Anyway, I get fired up when I hear people say that running sucks or that this runner or that runner sucks. Because there can only be two possible reasons for comments like that. They are either willfully ignorant or arrogant. Both of those things do suck.
But I know something that those people don’t know or at least pretend that they don’t. I know that if you can get yourself to a starting line and cross it something extraordinary will be waiting for you on the other side.
And it doesn’t suck.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
YOU ARE ALWAYS GOOD ENOUGH TO GET BETTER
Watch and share the little video above. It’s about having the courage to start and the confidence that you are always good enough… to get better.
NEW COACH BENNETT PODCASTS!
I shared the last 4 episodes below. You’ll find links to the shows for both Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I hope you give them all a listen AND subscribe to the podcast. I’d also appreciate it if you could give the podcast a rating and maybe even a review!
THE GLORY AND INGLORIOUSNESS OF THE CHOCOLATE MILK MILE
It was August 2011… or maybe it was 2012. I grabbed the red plastic cup. We called them “keg” cups when I was in college. The cup was 3/4 filled with chocolate milk. The real deal chocolate milk. I’m not talking about 1% or 2% milk. I’m talking WHOLE MILK chocolate milk. We were not playing games at Bennett Running Camp. We were playing for keeps. And the inaugural BRC Coaches and Counselors Chocolate Milk Mile would not disappoint. The course started at the top of a sloped quad. We chugged our cups of chocolate milk and then raced first down hill and then along the base of the hill before we would race back up towards the table littered with out next cup of sludge. If you are somehow unaware of the rules of a Chocolate Milk Mile… it’s simple… and horrific.
Chug a big cup of the stuff. Race a quarter mile. Chug another cup. Race another quarter mile more carefully. Drink a third cup of chocolate milk… that cup suddenly seems way bigger than the first two you had. Run a third quarter mile while heatedly debating to yourself whether you are going to DNF or not only to arrive back at the dreaded table. The 200 plus campers have decided for you that there will be no DNF’s today. So, you start to take sips of what now seems to be an oversized red plastic goblet filled with cocoa flavored petroleum jelly. You then proceed to go on a very uncomfortable quarter mile vision quest.
I won. I think. I can’t remember. I may have been second. I may have been third. Maybe not. I do know I finished because I’m here typing this now. There were no official records. I saw to that. I’m pretty sure the Chocolate Milk Mile is illegal in every state besides Wyoming. And that’s just because no one runs or reads in Wyoming. (The Cowboy State is the only state without a Coach Bennett’s Newsletter subscriber so they will be the butt of my jokes until that ignoble metric is remedied.)
What I do remember is that I thought the world was ending… more specifically I though my world was ending for about an hour after the debacle. But the campers absolutely loved it. They thoroughly enjoyed watching their coaches and counselors suffer. More than anything though I think they just had a blast watching all of us play running. So, maybe I did win after all. Because that camp… Bennett Running Camp… was created so kids (and coaches) could learn that the best way to become your best was to learn to have fun trying your best.
So, I’ll raise my plastic keg cup filled with chocolate milk to that.
You raise whatever you got in your cup.
Cheers!
Chug!
Now, let’s race!
Thank you for subscribing and for reading Coach Bennett’s Newsletter. Thank you for sharing it amongst family and friends and teammates. And if you are one of the paid supporters of this newsletter… or thinking about becoming a paid supporter… thank you for that too.
It helps. It really does.
Until next time… take care of yourself… take care of each other.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
Hey Coach!
Big fan of your content! I would like to translate to Portuguese - since a lot of non-English folks down here in Brazil would be blessed by your content - and don't want to do it without your consent. What would you say?