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A season of gratitude – another guest post on the BHM blog

A season of gratitude – another guest post on the BHM blog

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Here’s another guest post I wrote for the Berkeley Half Marathon blog earlier this week. Looking back on it, I think I come off as a bit didactic and rather hastily made my points — both things I should have caught on a few more read-throughs — but I hope my sub-par mechanics don’t completely dilute the essence of what I was trying to say. With Thanksgiving around the corner (one of my top 3 fav holidays!), I’ve been thinking more about gratitude lately. I hope everyone else has an opportunity (perhaps even on a run) to reflect, even if only momentarily, on what you’re grateful for in your life.  Enjoy. –e

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running-gratitude-familyFor many people, anytime after Halloween – and late November, in particular – marks the beginning of the holiday frenzy. It’s easy to forget that November also signals the season of gratitude – of giving thanks. With this in mind, perhaps it’s apropos then that the Berkeley Half Marathon race weekend is a mere few days before the singular day of the year when we all give pause to the busyness of our lives and reflect.

Though I’m stating the obvious, as runners, we have a lot to be thankful for. Not only our desire to run – to lace up our shoes day in and day out, putting ourselves out there as we strive to go after the goals that we’ve set before ourselves – but also our sheer ability to run – to put one foot in front of the other, hundreds of thousands of times – are both attributes that not everyone in this world shares with the running community.

The fact of the matter is that because we both can and want to move our bodies, we should give thanks. Really, it’s a necessity that we must. It’s often not until we can no longer or choose to no longer run – because of illness, injury, or simply because we’re feeling burnt out and need a break – do we realize how incredibly lucky we are to run at all.

To our bodies that put up with our mileage habit, the bodies that we test over and over again, the bodies we’re constantly working toward discovering and tapping the depths of our athletic potentials – thank you.

Beyond giving thanks to our bodies for being the incredible workhorses that they are, November and the Berkeley Half Marathon weekend also gives us an opportunity to be thankful for all of the people “behind the scenes,” the folks who enable us to be able to run as we’d like. Though we might like to think otherwise, none of us are little islands unto ourselves; that is, our running affects more than just us. Many of us are not only runners but also significant others, parents, children, employees – the list goes on – and consequently, our running hobby impacts all of these circles of our identity.

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We can’t run without the unwavering support of those around us, so here, too, is a reminder, or another opportunity, to express gratitude toward the many folks who support us. Many of us, myself included, say that running allows us to become better versions of ourselves and therefore allow us to be better significant others, parents, and children.

To those who have our backs – the folks who enable and encourage our running so that we can pay it forward and be better human beings in return – thank you.

I’ve run thousands of miles over my lifetime, and one reason I continue to run and push myself is because running gives me limitless opportunities to reflect on my own mortality. That’s not to say that each time I run I am thinking about how or when I’ll die – it’s not that at all, really – but instead, running, and its concomitant moments of solitude and reflection, remind me of both the sanctity and brevity of life.

It is so easy to get bogged down in the “micro” of running – our splits, paces, elevation gains, and whatever else we’re tracking – that many of us, myself included, totally forget to remember the more important “macro” side of things – that we are both able to and want to run in the first place.

Running gives all of us endless opportunities to see and experience the world differently, as well as numerous occasions to give thanks in ways that might be lost on us otherwise.

As you toe the line at one of the Berkeley Half Marathon races just a few days before Thanksgiving this year, remember to take an extra moment this season to convey your gratitude for running: for being able to do it and for all the people in your life who support you. And finally, after the BHM weekend has come and gone and you’re knee-deep into the thick of the holiday frenzy, when running might feel like one more thing on your never-ending to do list, a “have to” not a “get to,” try hard to not allow the “micro” running minutia cloud your “macro” gratitude.

If you run, you are a runner- guest post on the Berkeley Half Marathon blog

If you run, you are a runner- guest post on the Berkeley Half Marathon blog

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As you know, I am a social media ambassador for the Berkeley Half Marathon race weekend, which is quickly coming up on November 22 (and there are still some slots available for any of the races. You can save $12 with my code, seen on my right sidebar) 🙂 I recently wrote this entry for the race blog, which originally appeared here, so I thought I’d also post it here on runningruminations as well. I think many of us will be able to relate. Enjoy 🙂  –e

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Erin Mink Garvey has called herself a runner for most of her life and is absolutely stoked to be running the Berkeley Half Marathon this year, her first half since giving birth in early August. Since 2007, she has run 25 marathons and more than 30 half marathons and loves the running community and the sport’s transformative effects on people’s lives. When she’s not running, you’ll find Erin spending time with her husband and two daughters; writing on her blog; or cooking and baking vegan deliciousness. She and her family recently relocated to San Jose, California, after living in Chicago for more than a decade, and she is looking forward to meeting more CA-based runners and exploring all the beautiful running locales this fine state has to offer!

erin_gThere are so many clichés out there that remind us of life’s brevity – sayings that urge us to remember that “life is short” and that compel us to “seize the day,” – and while we can all probably agree with these axioms, it is worth asking ourselves what we could be capable of if we stopped standing in our own way and reminded ourselves what it’s like to take a risk every once in a while.

Say what?

As runners, we risk ourselves every time we lace up and hit the ground. I’m not talking about risk inherent in the sense of our physical safety and security; I’m talking more about the mental risk of failure. Every time we put ourselves out there to run, there’s always the chance that we won’t be able to finish our run or complete a workout. There’s always the chance that the little voice in our head that tells us that we’re not good enough, strong enough, fast enough, or ____ enough is right. There’s always the chance that the internal doubt that we feel will convince us that we aren’t “real” runners is right and that everyone will finally figure out our secret, that we’re just “faking it until we make it.”

I’m taking authorial liberty here to remind you of one critical element that underpins this entire conversation: if you run – if you put one foot in front of the other and generally propel yourself in a forward motion – you are a runner.

Distance does not a runner make. Speed does not a runner make.

The courage to take the risk – the risk of failure, the risk of not being able to continue to propel yourself forward, or the risk to prove to yourself that you can, in fact, do it, despite what that little voice wants you to believe – is what makes a runner a runner.

Incredibly, we’re already in the throes of race month for the Berkeley Half Marathon, Relay, 10K, and 5K. As we inch our way closer to race day, it behooves us to all be our own biggest cheerleaders. There is certainly an obvious physical side to running and training to complete endurance events like the Berkeley Half Marathon, but there is also a critically important mental side to training, running, and racing, the side that we have to navigate every time we lace up and thoughts of doubt and sabotage begin to creep in.

Having the courage to not only run and train but also to register for a race like the Berkeley Half Marathon – a race wherein we’ll be surrounded by thousands of our new best running friends – is a big deal. Many people hold themselves back, believing that “there’s no way that I could run a race like that” and therefore, don’t even try.

The courage you have to run, train, and race through the autumnal and eclectic streets of Berkeley is enormous.

On race day, when you feel tired, when you think there’s not a chance in hell you can cover more ground or run another step, remind yourself that you can. You have done it thousands of times before.

You will do it thousands of times again.

Look around you, and remind yourself that all the runners you see bring with them a story, their own reasons for racing in Berkeley.

John “the Penguin” Bingham, an icon in the running community and an author/coach of Marathoning for Mortals, who has turned thousands of people into lifelong runners, says it best: “the miracle isn’t that I finished; the miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

Believe in yourself during your training and on race day; you’ve totally got this. Cheese so hard in your finishing picture that it hurts, and revel in the exhilarating fact that you’ve taken life by the horns, doubt be damned.