Yet another "classroom" of my life has been running. I have learned much about myself and the world around me.

One of the more concrete examples first. I was a fat little kid. Late high school/early college, I lost a lot of weight... but not without quite a bit of resistance. Nope, didn't like it. Eating well? Bah. Exercise? Who the heck cares? I finally hit upon something I liked... and yet it took quite some time to get used to it. That "something" is running. Yeah, the first few times, it was more difficult than any exercise I'd ever done. But that was part of the beauty -- you see, I was challenging myself, competing against my own body and my own will. Now... I dislike the days when, due to injury or weather, I'm forced to use a hamster machine inside the gym. I have learned that I really like outdoor physical challenges. Exercise is good. It feels refreshing, like I've done something good for myself. Same goes for eating well... most of the time.

But there is no better time to ruminate over ideas and thoughts than on a long run. Somehow I think the mental faculties are a lot more freed up when the body is under moderate physical exertion. And you're out there for a long time: what, you're going to contemplate the holes in the sidewalk? And somehow, the idea that you're running X number of miles, whether or not you've done it before, gives a sense of empowerment, like you can take on the world. And suddenly some of life's seemlingly unreasonable challenges become a whole lot easier...

Running has also instilled in me a greater sense of patience, which was the last of my virtues to be developed. While we'd like to remain healthy and run forever, as much or as hard as we want, that never happens. Yes, I've been laid up by more than a few injuries. In the present, while we may want to go out and run so badly, this is where patience comes in: of course, logic dictates that running will only exacerbate the injured part. The notion of "don't give up what you desire in the long term for what you want now." That's a tough lesson to learn as a runner.