Runners Are Insane, Can I Be One?

First off I should explain that this is my first blog ever, so bear with me. Next, I guess I should point out that this blog is about me running, something I have never done before, so again please bear with me.

I’m going to be completely honest and say what I have thought about runners for a very long time. Bottom Line – they are insane. I can appreciate that our ancestors found it necessary to be good runners. I think the old saying is “you don’t have to be the fastest guy, you just don’t want to be the slowest,” which seems especially poignant when you are being chased by a saber tooth tiger. The better runners were less likely to wind up as dinner. However, it seemed that with our evolution as a species, and our rise to the top of the food chain, the need to be great runners became an outdated fashion, much like tight rolling jeans or Devo.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for staying in shape but I would watch footage of some of our athletes running marathons and it didn’t look like they were having fun. I live in San Diego and at the right time of day 26 miles can be painful with 350 horsepower doing all of the heavy lifting. Why on Earth would someone choose to run that? How on Earth can someone run that?

Well, as the human species evolved and we stopped running to stay alive and started running to stay in shape, I too evolved in my thinking about this concept of running. One of two things happened. Either I began to see running in a different light or ultimately some seed of insanity took root in the nether regions of my brain and I figured “what the heck, I’ll buy some running shoes and start jogging.”

So here I am, 43 years old and the extent of my running has been chasing the UPS driver down across the parking lot to ensure a Vitalyte customer gets their order. But I digress. Now I am committed to training for a 5k, then a 10k and assuming I don’t suffer some debilitating shin splints along the way, eventually the half marathon.

So between now and the end of December when I compete in my first 5k, I will be posting to this blog a couple times a week sharing with the rest of the active community that makes up the core group of Vitalyte enthusiasts, my running story.

So this message goes out to that select group of insane people. Please forgive me in my misguided judgment of your mental competence. I humbly beg your forgiveness and ask permission to join your wacky ranks as a runner.