A Life on the Run
Terrance Brown
A few years back if you’d asked me if there was any chance of me becoming a regular jogger I’d have probably died from laughter. Fast forward to now though and most days after I get home from school I strap on pair of trainers and take to the roads winding through the rice fields near my apartment.
It’s gotten to be pretty much an obsession with me, to the point where I’ve actually bought a heart rate monitor and log all my sessions on Runkeeper.
A few years back I got into walking simply as a way to lose weight and get into shape. I’d go every day for 30 minutes or an hour and it was refreshing to get out in the fresh air and not be stuck behind a desk in an office.
Even though I lived in a built up neighbourhood and most of the roads where I went walking were dangerous with cars speeding by it still felt good to feel the sun on my skin and just relax with some podcasts or music as I walked.
Maybe the thing that attracted me most to walking and jogging was the zen aspect of it. For the hour or so that I walk or jog I’m alone with only my thoughts to keep me company. It’s the perfect remedy for days where you’re stressed out or feel snowed under with the worries and stresses of everyday life. When I walk it’s only me and the road and I get into a rhythm and before I know it the hour or so that I walk or jog has flown by.
It’s not always easy to go jogging regularly, sometimes life throws in a roadblock or two that are more important, but as long as I manage to get in two or three sessions a week I’m more than happy.
The important thing to take away from all of this is that for everyone there is a an activity that can act as a linchpin in providing you with the motivation and time to just think and set aside all distractions. In the hectic rat race of our everyday lives maybe it’s important for us to realize that we need downtime or we risk losing ourselves under an avalanche or responsibilities, worries and all the other problems of our lives in this more connected age.
So there you have it. The reason I jog most days is because I find it extremely cathartic and it helps me to unwind after a long day of teaching. It also helps that I live in an extremely beautiful part of the Japan and that our weather here isn’t as frigid as the more northern parts of Japan. but as long as there’s a road to run down you’ll find me running. To run is to live.