Some people like to workout and others don’t. To some people, it comes naturally and to others, they have to work at it. I pride myself in eating healthy and overall being healthy mentally and physically. For me, I am a workout enthusiast! More specifically, I am a runner.
Now, this love for hitting the pavement rain or shine hasn’t been a passion of mine my whole life. I played sports while throughout my whole childhood and will continue to do so for as long as I physically can. I developed this love for running due to my committment to play soccer here at BGSU. At the division one level, fitness is so vital that if you are not fit, you will not play. I’m not saying I wasn’t fit before college, but my training throughout these last four years has made me the fittest I’ve ever been! I had to work at the running, but now, I feel like I can’t go a day without running. But, if I do, I get in this weird/bad mood which makes me realize I do love it so much.
The past summer, I ran my first half-marathon in Chicago, Illinois. I loved every single minute of it! The race was a challenge both mentally and physically. After that, I signed up for a few smaller 8k’s and 5k’s to run and will be running in my second half marathon this upcoming April-the Toledo Glass Half-Marathon.
I even enjoy running so much that for Christmas this past year, I asked for a subscription to Runner’s World magazine. It’s so unfortunate that the magazine comes out on a monthly basis. But I enjoy reading stories about runner’s experiences in races and different workouts there are to do.
Whenever I go out on a run, I forget about my worries and stresses in my daily life. I get on this runner’s high sometimes and I feel like I can run forever. Running is my outlet and getaway from life. I just can’t express enough how much passion I have for it.
When winter hits, I get the treadmill blues and sometimes have to resort to other types of workouts like swimming, ellipticals, and biking. Which hey, I love those workouts too just not as much as running. So when Spring is here, I am so happy. I get to run outside and run pretty much wherever my little legs will take me. From there, I have about 3/4 of the year to enjoy being outside.
I honestly do not see any norms when I comes to running. There is not a certain ratio of men to women runners. Yet, when it comes to big races, you do see runners from Africa (Ethiopia in particular) who tend to win more races. Running is a way of life for them.
-Additional comments:
When it comes to running between men and women, there’s not really one gender who runs more than the other. I believe it is pretty even. However, when it comes to training for men and women, that does differ based off our body structures. In Runner’s World, there are highlights and interviews of both male and female runners and their workouts. When it comes to women, our knees area, and this is true in all female sports, are more susceptible to injury due to the sheer construction of our bodies. So there are workouts that help counter this by suggestions for different leg workouts that women can do to prevent this.
When it comes to success of runners, as in winning races and setting records, men are highlighted more in running magazines-this is true in my Runner’s World. There are more men who are highlighted for their successes in college, their personal history of running, and why they love to run. I’m not saying there are not females that get highlighted; there are just more men who are based on the records they are breaking. But overall, guys are overall faster than women; not every one, but for the most part. So, I do see why they would be highlighted more than women.
When I ran my Glass City Half Marathon this past weekend in Toledo, the overall winner was a male. This was expected, but there was a woman who finished a few minutes after him-giving him a run for his money! What was interesting was that there were 977 females who ran out of a total of 1705 half marathoners. This is over 50% of the field! I’m not sure if this is due to the interest of runners in the area being more-so female, but I was intrigued by those figures.