In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, here are a couple of things I am thankful for.
First and foremost, in the spirit of this blog, I want to say how profoundly grateful I am to be able to run the way I do. I am free from physical limitations that keep me from running, I have a life that allows me the time to run, and I have a wife that understands this passion because she has it, too.
Second, as I was considering this idea of thankfulness as it relates to running, I realized one of things I am most thankful for are bad runs. Don’t get me wrong–it is awesome to run well, to nail a goal, to get to the finish line–but good runs will get you in trouble. When you finish and think, “yep, I nailed that,” it’s easy to ride that feeling and slide a bit. Hard to feel like you need to keep pushing. But a bad run, now–a bad run makes you think. Makes you analyze what went wrong. Makes you work harder the next time. Good runs make you feel good. Bad runs make you better.
Bring on the bad runs. I don’t like them, but I need them, and boy I am thankful for them.