"We runners..."

I've been reading a lot lately.  I have been reading a lot for the past year, but especially over the past two to three months as I've had to cut back my workouts due to my knee injury and eventual surgery.  I've taken the time to enlighten.my.body by focusing on my mind.

One strong theme in my readings has been running.  Since my knee crapped out I've read Runner's World cover to cover each month (LOVE that magazine, and highly recommend it), "The Long Run" by Matt Long, every book by Dean Karnazes, and Amby Burfoot's "The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life".  What do I see in every running-related piece of print?  It's the consistent use of the term, "We runners."

It's so enlightening to me how this phrase keeps getting used, and really speaks to what running is all about and how cohesive and connecting a sport it is for something that's so personal and solitary.  Sure, you can run on a relay team, but the bulk of running is done alone.  Even if you're running with friends or on a team, it's your body alone - no ball to pass to someone, no set of oars that must bull a boat in unison, etc.

The way running can bring people together, and instantly remove any potential interpersonal barriers and just get people wanting to work together, talk together, etc - it's really amazing and powerful.

I've written about running a lot (starting with this blog post).  I miss running a lot right now.  I hated running a lot for 33 years of my life.  I always did the gym thing (either in a gym or with equipment at home).  I never felt good about it socially.  I always felt some sort of weird pressure - pressure to look good, pressure to go longer or on a higher resistance level than the person next to you, etc.  Not that it's bad to be pushed to do better, but it was an odd sort of competitive feeling that just didn't seem...well, healthy.  Not so with running.

It's competitive, but there's some underlying feeling most runners seem to have where competitiveness is felt in a very healthy and constructive way.  Not always, but most times.  You see it in all of Dean Karnazes' stories of doing ultra marathons and how runners stop to help each other despite it being a high stakes race where you want to not only win but live (seriously, death is a real risk in these things).

What about you?  In your fitness quest, do you feel part of a 'we' or are you an 'I' against all the other 'I's out there?  Which do you think is a better way to feel?  I'll give you a hint, through the help of a positive, productive, supportive 'we', you will enlighten.your.body.