#runningchef

The Streak - Day 90

So, they say that if you do a thing for 90 days it becomes a set behavior... well, I’ve run every one of the last 90 days!  So, this is a milestone for me.  I can run easily now and not get winded or feel like I”m going to die.  I’m really proud of this, and I know running is now a part of my daily routine and life.

But this is not easy.  Things hurt.  My hip is killing me still.  My calves scream a lot of days.  And I now employ a small army of people that keep my body functioning.  But, the alternative is much, much worse.

Okay... There’s still a lot of 2017 to run... and a bunch of races coming.  Now, I move on to phase two of this process.  April is detox month.  That means:

No alcohol.  No processed foods. No dairy.  No wheat.  I’m also committing to go to yoga every day I am home.  

I love to run, and I’m not very good at it... and I think those two things have a lot to do with each other.

I’m a professional chef.  I’ve been in the foodservice industry for almost 35 years.  Although I do not like to define myself by my job, I really do.  Food is what I’ve made my living doing in one way or another, and it is ultimately how I, and others, define me.  It matters how I perform every day and at every event I show up to.  There is a lot of pressure.  I’m cool with that.  I’m good.  I got this.

Not one single person in my life cares if I run, or if I am good at it in any measurable way.  There is absolutely nothing as stake here.

I am 46 years old and I started a serious running practice this year.  I run every day.  I committed to run every day of 2017, at least one mile.  I am trying to log at least 1,000 miles of running/walking this year.

I’m not in shape.  

Last year I lost 25 pounds, which puts me at 5′7″ and 160 pounds.  I’m not a svelte form of grace when I run.  I’d like to be, but that is not the point of this exercise.

The point of this challenge for me is to normalize physical activity, and extend my life.  I want to age gracefully.  I want to continue to do what I do and more.  I want to be strong and able well into my later years (secretly, I plan to live to 120).

So I run.  It’s really hard for me.  It hurts physically.  I have to get up at 3am often to do it.  But I dig it, and I dig in.

I dig it because there are no exceptions here.  No one, myself included, expects me to be of a “professional” quality when I run.  Shit, no one even cares if I run at all.  This whole exercise is beginners mind in action.  

I run because I want to, and it is extending my life, and it is fun.  That’s it... nothing more.

I’m going to run a 10K and a half marathon this year.  Next year I’ll do a full marathon.  No one is watching.  No one has any expectations.  

That alone is pure, unadulterated joy.  I run because I can, and I want to.  I can completely release into it because no one is watching.  I can fail, and succeed, and no one cares.  This is purely me, and my body, and my mind coming into alignment.  Running is a luxury of alignment.