Global Running Day
Vol.5, No.13
Today is the first Wednesday in June, meaning it’s Global Running Day! A day to celebrate the sport and culture of running. A day to encourage all people to get outdoors and get active, to continue the journey towards wellness by incorporating running into their regimen.
Running is natural to human development, instinctual and hard-wired into our very being. We all wanted to run as toddlers, and many of us still have that yearning to run well into adulthood. Nobody had to teach you how to run. Most likely, running came so naturally to you that you wanted to run into the road, run in the house, and run into parking lots and danger. In fact, that’s when adults started telling you to “stop” running. So you did. You went against your instincts to be compliant and safe.
Running is a natural antidote to the stresses of life, nourishing the human spirit and helping us feel better. Running releases endorphins into the body that reduce stress, the feeling of pain, and help you feel calm and relaxed. In addition to these endorphins that overall make your life better, the body releases additional chemicals into the brain that alter your mood and well-being.
Dopamine
Helps you feel motivated and rewarded
Gives you a sense of accomplishment after a run
Serotonin
Helps regulate mood
Can reduce feelings of anxiety and sadness
Norepinephrine
Improves focus and attention
Helps your brain handle stress more effectively
The physiological effects of running are real. They are real for me and millions of others who have made running a regular part of their lives. This isn’t just about becoming physically stronger, faster, or more capable of running further. Running for many is about mental health and emotional resiliency.
The Running Community
The running community can be absolutely amazing. Full of and representing the entire spectrum of people who live on this Earth. The culture of running has an inherent and shared understanding and knowledge that running can be hard, and to get better takes discipline, consistency, and effort. Those actions and choices that are necessary for the development of improvement cannot be bought, downloaded, or upgraded. To be better, you must do better, and that takes an immense amount of effort.
Effort is an individual action. It’s not predisposed by race, creed, religion, or region. All people of the world who embark on a running regimen share this hard-earned knowledge. Running unites us all in this shared suffering. This shared experience of elation when hitting a goal. This shared improvement in our mental health and emotional resiliency. When we do better individually, our community does better collectively.
This is why it’s important to celebrate and cheer our fellow runners when they set a new personal record or personal best. The time or distance of their PR or PB doesn’t matter; what matters is we bear witness to our friends and those fellow runners and recognize that through hard work, they are better today than they were yesterday. We recognize that hard work takes discipline and often sacrifices. We know this because each of us experiences it through our own individual relationship with the sport. While our experiences in running are individual, they are not unique.
Closing out Global Running Day
I decided to close out the day by attending the Fleet Feet sponsored “The Big Run” here in Syracuse, NY. The weather was absolutely incredible with a Carolina Blue sky, a slight breeze that barely moved the leaves, and temperatures in the upper 70’s. It was truly a gift from God to experience 6 miles today in these conditions.
Community. That’s what running is to me.
It’s seeing my friends every week. I couldn’t imagine my life without them.
It’s seeing my friends in TeamRWB, who I do my best to see every time I’m in Syracuse, NY. It’s getting in miles with incredible people and having incredible conversations.
Back home in North Carolina, my local run club and friends gathered together to get the miles in. It all started at 5:05 a.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. At both runs, we had new runners show up and join Clayton Area Runners for their first run with the club.
Community. That’s what it’s about.
Making friends because running with friends is best.
I hope you got outside on this Global Running Day, and I hope you find a love of movement, but more importantly, find your tribe.
This is why I started this Substack! To explore the physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects of running.
Running really does have serious impacts on each of those important aspects of your life.