What Kind of a Runner are You?

Dinner with the college girls was fun yesterday. I had some dhal makhani, rice and washed it down with a coffee. Yesterday, overall was a great day. Woke up at 6:30 am, started a run that was timebased (1hour) at 6:42 am and ended it at 7:42 am. It could have been close to 10-11k as I maintained a uniform pace.

I am entirely impressed with Murakami’s latest book on running. I can relate to every word he says. Woke up early this morning telling myself “rise and shine thug” and decided to do a 2 hour run. It could have been close to a 21k but really I don’t care. I just wanted to be on my feet for two full hours.

Not everyone is meant to be a long distance runner. Murakami in his book says that he does not run because of the great will power that he has, but more because long distance running chose him. It is unfair that gym instructors force everyone in the gym to run. Its not everybody’s sport. My sport could have very well been baseball, badminton, powerlifting, sprinting or horse riding. Its long distance running because long distance running chose me. I put in my part definitely but it simply happened because my personality is suited to run long distance.

Today when I was running I thought about what differentiates running with a group and running by yourself. Running with a group is like having sex. You have to be compatible with the group in terms of speed, distance, competition and conversation (or not). You need to basically have some kind of chemistry to really enjoy running with the group. Once the chemistry is developed, the group takes you to another level altogether. I have run with people with whom I have no chemistry whatsoever and its simply equals to bad sex. Running alone is like playing with yourself. It’s basically plug and play. You start wherever you want, you do your distance and at your pace. You have your thoughts, you have your objective and you are there before you know it. You don’t even have to speak to anyone. Ofcourse, each of them have their own advantages and it totally depends on what you want out of it. I enjoy group running maybe once or twice a week but I think I have more of the individual running personality. What do you prefer?