Engineered to Run

This week's post was inspired by a tweet that I saw a couple of days ago. The tweet was from Greg McMillan, who is a well-known running coach who has a website with tons of running content at  www.mcmillanrunning.com . I have embedded the tweet from Greg below. Running is very yin-yang. Train hard but not too hard. Use technology but don't rely on it. Learn the complexities but keep it simple. Be disciplined but go w/ the flow. Take it seriously but don't forget to have fun. The art of it is applying each to your ever-changing situation — Greg McMillan (@GregMcMillan) April 27, 2018 Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time in the sport of running can likely relate to the idea espoused here. For some of us, myself included, the natural pull is to go too hard, to be too disciplined and focused on nailing every workout, and to sometimes lose sight of the joy that we should be taking from something that is ultimately a recreational activity. For others, runni...

Normally when I sit down to write these posts, I have a clear idea in my head of the topic I want to discuss, and a framework in my mind for how I want to cover it. This week is not like that! So I'm just going to ramble off the top of my head for a few paragraphs, and hopefully the final product will be something worth reading. Haha Part of the reason I don't have a running topic to write about this week is that I spent almost the entire weekend in a bowling alley. Bowling is a sport that I have participated in off and on since about the age of 12, and while it doesn't occupy near as much of my time as running, it is something else that I have a passion for. Being a runner and a single parent, there can be times when it seems like every spare moment is spent training, especially when getting ready for a big race. So as much as I love running, the training and the planning and even just talking shop, it is nice to be completely immersed in something else for a weekend wh...

I'm back after an unexpected one week hiatus caused by a sinus cold that started last Sunday evening and knocked me down for most of the week. Thankfully, it came in the week leading up to the first race of the season. Great timing! I know I've spoken here before about my dislike for running in the winter, and in particular the cold weather. I don't know if I have specifically mentioned the Hypothermic Half Marathon or not, but it is a race that I have avoided, essentially on principle. The name spells out the fact that it is going to be cold; that's more than enough to keep me away. :) Well, this being Newfoundland, running a race a month into Spring doesn't promise that conditions will be any better. At race start this morning it was -5, with winds 50 km/h gusting to 80 km/h, and a wind chill of -15. At least it was sunny! Needless to say, I was not looking forward to racing in those conditions, and definitely not coming off a week of being sick. I got to Bo...

Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully it was an enjoyable holiday for all, and I hope you all ate a few less Mini Eggs than I did; those things are so delicious. :) Holiday seasons generally come with traditions for everyone, and the Easter season brings with it an interesting tradition for runners here locally: The Tely Teaser. Each year, on Good Friday morning, hundreds of runners head out and run the Tely 10 course as part of an unofficial event. There is even a water station setup just after the halfway point by some members of the Nautilus running club! After completing my second Tely Teaser on Friday morning, I couldn't help but be amazed at how upbeat and happy everyone was that I had encountered along the way. This led me to contemplate the question that inspired this week's title: Do happy people naturally gravitate to running, or does running just make people happy? I'm sure the real answer is somewhere in the middle, but either way it is something to behold. For...