Wanna Go Play Some Running?

Running was once all about play. It can be again.

When’s the last time you played some running? Yes, I wrote that correctly. Why are you confused? It’s a simple question. You wouldn’t be confused if I asked you when the last time you played some basketball would you? What about if I asked you about the last time you played soccer…eh hem… I mean football? How about if I asked you when the last time was you played softball or tennis? Did you ever play tag? Where was the last time played hide and seek? Baseball or cricket or chess or checkers? You see? You didn’t get all weird on me weird asked about this things. So, why did you get all weird when I asked about the last time you played running? 

Is it because at some point we all stopped looking at running as a form of play? Maybe we were told too many times to stop running when we were younger. Stop running around the house! Stop running in the hallways! Stop running on the beach! You’re kicking up sand! Stop running down the aisles! They’ll kick us out of the store! Stop running or you’ll get all sweaty! Stop running or you’ll mess up your hair! Stop running or they’ll think you’re a tomboy… or a jock… or a weirdo! Stop running because you don’t look like a runner! Stop running because you don’t dress like a real runner! Stop running because you’ll never be good enough or fast enough or go long enough or hard enough or ever be enough. Stop running because running sucks. Stop running because it’s too hard and you’re too soft. Stop running because it’s not fun!

You know that if you run for fun you still get the fitness? So why did we start to take all the fun out of our running? We were running for fun and getting all the benefits once. Why did we stop playing running? Did you know that if you play running up and down hills that’s called a hill workout? Do you know that tag is basically a more exciting version of a group fartlek run? Did you know that hide and seek is just a glorified interval workout that occasionally has your neighbor yelling at you for hiding under their porch and freaking out their jittery dog? Did you know that chasing after the rainbow in the hopes that you can get to the pot gold before the other kids in your neighborhood do is just a modified tempo run? Did you know that running home from your buddies house because your mom just called looking for you and you told him to tell her that you were doing homework and definitely not playing video games and more importantly that you had already left five minutes ago and were on your way home for dinner is really just a higher stakes version of a 1500m race? Facts. 

At some point too many of us stopped looking at running as play and I think that’s why so many us stopped running. Which is bananas! Because we are all so damn successful at it! You know running was one of your first goals? It was. Lifting your big ass baby head was probably your first one actually. (Baby heads are ridiculous if you really look at them.) Then you wanted to get up on your hands and knees. I bet you were adorable straining to take on your next goal… crawling. Once you did that though you weren’t done though. You wanted to stand! And stand you did! Badass baby that you were you had more mountaintops to scale. You wanted to walk! You probably can’t remember the cheers but I bet you were showered with applause when you took those first few steps. And those first steps only inspired you to do what you really wanted to do… take strides! You wanted to run! You wanted to haul that little diapered butt of yours around the playground and the kitchen and in and out of this room and that room as fast as you could. Running was fun! It was dangerous! It was exciting and invigorating and it tired you out and woke you up and made you laugh. Running was an essential ingredient to your play and your play is an essential ingredient to your joy. 

So, let me ask you again. When was the last time you played running? I don’t mean the last time you ran for x minutes or y miles. I don’t mean the last time you ran and measured the success of your run by your cadence or heart rate zone or how many calories you lost. Ugh. I want to know about the last time you went for a run so you could play. I want to know about the last time you ran up a hill because you wanted to see what the world looked like from up there. I want to know about the last time you ran down a hill simply because it looked like it would be exciting (and maybe a little dangerous) to run down. When was the last time you ran fast… your fastest… because running your fastest is scary and crazy and reminds you that you are alive and free and strong and that you still have that kick ass little kid you were inside you? 

Believe me, you’ll still get the volume of meters or minutes or miles if you play running. You’ll still build endurance and get credit for the speed work if you have fun running. Your watch will still count the strides you take and measure all the things that you think need to be measured if you go play some running. But you’ll also end your run with some old school joy when you let the run be about play and not just metrics. And if you stopped running because someone told you the sport wasn’t for you or because you told yourself that you weren’t good enough I hope you know that you’ve always been a runner. You never stopped being a runner. You just stopped running. That’s okay. Your place on the starting line is still yours. It will always be there for you. It will always be yours. 

And one more thing… you’re always good enough to play some running. 

Don’t believe me? I’d love to know why? 

But you’ll have to catch me to tell me. 

Because tag… you’re it.