Last week while I was visiting colleagues in San Diego, I met an impressive young woman who also runs. As we were talking I couldn’t help comparing our reasons or motivations for running. Of course I know that staying active and fit is important, and I certainly have physical energy to expend. But, I have a hard time staying motivated to run for these excellent reasons. I tend to always need some type of goal to aim for – either a specific race or event, or a charitable purpose.
While I was talking with Sonia, the colleague in San Diego, I discovered she runs simply for the pure joy of the running and physical activity itself and for the need to clear her mind and expend energy. I’m hoping to learn from her, that sometimes the goal or result does not need to be the most important thing – that it is okay to simply run for the experience of running itself (or do any enjoyable activity – whatever that may be for you – simply for the activity). A friend of mine here in Arizona uses the tag line “enjoy the journey” and one of these days I need to learn to do just that.