Damsel Diaries 11 years ago Damsel Diaries // A Lot Like Love
I don’t know what it is about New York City. Who am I kidding? I know exactly what it is!
They say that “One cannot paint New York as it is, but how it is felt” and last weekend New York felt a hybrid of emotion & sentiment. I don’t know if it was the summer breeze, the lovely {but also lonely} breakfast I had at the Four Seasons pre-run or the fact that I’ve been traveling a lot lately, but I woke up feeling more determined than ever to break a new distance record.
I hit the ground on a mission but after the 2.5 mile mark my legs delivered me with a revelation: I kind of hate running. At the end of each run that I track on my Nike+ Running app it asks you to rate your run using emoticons. There are five total: “I got injured,” “I felt tired,” I felt so-so”, “I felt awesome,” and “I felt unstoppable” and not once have I rated any higher than “I felt tired.”
Despite my unyielding efforts to increase my emoticon to an “I felt so-so” scoring, I felt overtaxed, beat down and utterly exhausted not only physically, but emotionally too.
Even with the beautiful Central Park scenery I couldn’t seem to stay focused on gaining any momentum with my run.
But, as always, just as life delivered me with the feeling of dejection, I rounded a corner, jogged up a few stairs and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of this: The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Wow.
I gathered my thoughts, set my playlist and felt a renewed sense of perseverance.
‘You do not hate running,’ I told myself. ‘GO.’
The funny thing about hate & love is there is such a fine line between the two that sometimes you cannot decipher one from the other. I do not hate running, I actually quite love it. I love the challenge, I love the ups and downs and I even love the pain. As I pounded the gravel to “Lover’s Spit” by Broken Social Scene, I realized that running is a lot like love.
It can be painful at times, confusing, agonizing and insanely neurotic. It takes work, consistent effort and the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone. But, sometimes love comes just as easily as putting one foot in front of the other. The funny thing is: Love can be rated with emoticons just as running can be. “I got injured,” “I felt tired,” I felt so-so”, “I felt awesome,” “I felt unstoppable.” Even though we may sometimes rate love {or running} with an “I felt tired” scoring, you always go back for more.
That’s because when you are running, when you are loving, there is no feeling better than the days you get an “I felt unstoppable.” It’s better than any skyline your imagination could paint of New York City.
{p.s. I did end up breaking my distance record which is now set at 5.06 miles which made me feel unstoppable}
*I write from my heart, not from my head, so please excuse any typos*
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