Choosing to Run : a book review & personal musings.

I just read Des Linden’s “Choosing to Run” in under 24 hours. I’ve always been a fast reader, but it’s been a long time since I read anything quite that fast. Things like jobs tend to get in the way of unlimited un-interrupted reading time. I just happened to start this book on a Tuesday afternoon, and I since I don’t work on Wednesdays, I picked it back up Wednesday morning and didn’t put it down again until I had finished it.

To be honest, reading autobiographies/biographies/memoirs of runners hadn’t really been on my to-do list. But I listened to a few episodes of Des & Kara’s new podcast, Nobody Asked Us, and I really enjoyed hearing them ramble on with each other about various topics. I listened to their episodes about their books, and suddenly I really wanted to read their books. I ordered both off of Amazon, and I’ll probably start reading Kara’s book tomorrow.

I loved reading Des’s account of her running journey, from her dad who put tons of pressure and stress on her to do well, to her struggles at the Olympics, to her incredible Boston win. I admire her mental toughness and hope mine is half as strong as hers. Her story really resonated with me.

I didn’t run in college, I’ll most likely never run a sub 3 hour marathon, and I will certainly never win Boston, but I still felt Des’s story on a deep level. Everybody’s personal experience are their own best and worst, everyone has their own highs and lows, and they are not comparable to each other’s. You might think my personal lowest point sounds like a walk in the park, but it’s all relative. All that matters to me is that it was my lowest. I think it was helpful to read about the struggles of an elite athlete. We common folk tend to put the elites up on a pedestal, but they are human beings with struggles just like ours. Sure, they may be lucky enough to run for a living, but that doesn’t exempt them from injury, illness, and setbacks.

Choosing to run. It is a choice I have made over and over again. There have been many times I wondered if I should stop choosing it. Especially the half marathons when I knew my legs were ready to carry me to that elusive sub 1:28 PR, but then my lungs had other plans. My running dreams have been thwarted by my asthma time and time again, but I am still choosing to run. And no matter how often my lungs rebel and dash my hopes, I am still choosing to race. I have gotten slower with numerous setbacks over the years, and a 1:30 half marathon often feels unattainable, but I just can’t stop choosing to try. If I can just find the right combination of training, inhalers, and fueling, maybe I will get there. And maybe I won’t. Maybe it isn’t in the cards for me. But I am far from ready to give up on myself.

Choose to run. If running is your passion, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. Or whatever your passion is. It doesn’t have to be running. Choosing to…? I think my big fear is giving up and then never knowing what I was capable of. You never know until you try. Maybe you never reach the goal you set for yourself, but you can at least know that you gave it your all and most importantly never gave up.