When my oldest son joined the cross country team at his middle school almost three years ago it inspired me to do a bit of running myself. I hardly consider myself an avid runner, but the parallels I have seen between running and life inspired me to share the incredible value that running can offer anyone beyond physical fitness.
People seem to respond well to lists, so I will deliver the 8 life lessons that being “a runner” can teach anyone:
- Life is not easy- running is not easy, and is by far the most mentally challenging sport I have encountered.
- Life is full of peaks and valleys- some days you just seem to run like the wind and other days it just seems like you have a 10 pound ankle weight on each ankle.
- You will fail in reaching certain goals in life- running is about setting goals, meeting them, beating them, and the resetting them. You will not hit your goals for time splits and/or overall time goal every time you run, nor will you win every race you chose to enter.
Learning how to fail is one of life’s most valuable lessons, and running can teach us that lesson. - Your life is an individual endeavor, but not an individual journey. Your family, friends, co-workers, etc., help define the scenery and quality of your journey. However, there are certain things in life which you need to learn and do for yourself and this is certainly the case in running. The quality of your running journey is enhanced by with whom you train, and run with, and your teammates if you are on a track and/or cross country team.
- Life and business offer obstacles that need to be taken head on- in life and business surviving issues and crisis often requires to you make difficult decisions, and address unpleasant things in a direct manner. All runners know what it means to “hit the wall” and run thru it or let it stop you in your tracks. Runners need to face the wall, and run through it, it is not going anywhere. Then face the next wall and chose to run through it.
- Life thrills you when you achieve goals you never thought possible- running allows you to set goals in terms of times and/or distances and meet these goals when you put in the work (this often requires running through “the wall”).
- What you give is what you get- I wish this correlation in life was much higher, but it is pretty high in terms of running. If you put in the work and train the right way you will get better. If you slack in your training you will get worse. If you do not give your life all that you have then you will not meet your goals and expectations.
- Don’t give up- life most often rewards us when we refuse to quit when reaching a goal is only a matter of hard work. Running allows us the same rewards. Lessons learned in running through the wall, and having a good time when you are not having your best day can be invaluable.