The trick is to keep running (and writing?)

I follow several college and professional runners on Strava. Keira D’Amato, Connor Mantz, Charles Hicks. Some other runners — Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Eilish McColgan on social media. Of course, we run in different orbits, but I feel we’re not that different when it comes to the actual love of running.

Charles Hicks — he runs for Stanford — wins my love for coming up with the best short titles for his runs. They resonate so much!

Like this one:

I’m not a religious person, not at all, but that’s exactly how I feel on many of my runs. Exactly! I think I even speak these very words in my head when I run. I feel such grace that I communicate with God.

The other day Charles posted this run:

The trick is to keep running.

It’s nothing eye-opening, and not the most sophisticated combination of words. Cliche, isn’t it? But it’s the truth! Ultimate, simple, indisputable. It’s the ultimate trick in running. To just keep running.

Yesterday I had a very long run, twenty-four miles. I always do my long runs on Sundays. Today I thought about having a rest day, after running ninety miles last week, but then ended up doing a very easy four-mile run, during my youngest son’s evening swimming. It was on a track. Kind of boring on the one hand (I prefer to run roads and trails unless I do speed work) — sixteen very slow laps, but I enjoyed every second of it. I felt a little stiff in the morning after my long run but my evening run removed every tiny bit of discomfort in my body.

The trick is to keep running.

I’ve been writing for about fourteen months now. It’s a very different activity from running but it’s also similar in many ways.

The trick is to keep writing…

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