Distance and endurance..

Warning. The next few lines of this post will seem like a profile bio pertaining to some character on a "online web dating site". It's not.

I am a 40 year old, South American male. I speak a few languages, all just a little better than mediocre. I have a career which I love and well, I stay fit. Relatively....

I have always been athletic. By this I mean that, in my younger years I always had good hand eye coordination. I didn't need to go to the gym because I was always active. I played in team sports such as soccer, volleyball, cross country running, skiing and more. Activity was just a part growing up.

When I had discovered that I was a grown up, I kept active. I made the choice to join a gym. Gyms are always intimidating. There is all sorts of lunar like torture machinery. Unless one takes an active role in learning how to use their properties to achieve a desired physique, well...

I didn't.



I just wanted to go there and lift, not so heavy things, a number of times, get sweaty and get the hell out of the very uncomfortable men's change room.

I did this for a while. In contrast, I knew of a number of people who hit the gym hard. Systematically with a goal and ready for action. They were the body builders, who seek the mass. I think they are still in the change room.

Anyway, the gym could not keep my interest very long. I still wanted to keep fit. So, I started running.It worked my "lean" or long muscles effectively. This gave me the body shape that I wanted. I kept running. As every runner knows, running in addictive. Maybe it's because the initial learning curve is quite rewarding. One can be a 10k runner in no time. Then one becomes a member of a community.

After reaching the first 10k safe plateau, it becomes a challenge to go longer and longer. Obviously, the longer the distance, the harder it becomes to achieve a higher kilometer count. Then there is the whole aspect of increasing your distance while at he same time, decreasing your speed. That's where the fun really begins.

Maybe not as much "the fun" but more "the challenge". Trying to go longer and avoid injuries is also a unique game. One which a lot of us loose often. Injuries are common. The severity, frequency and one's ability to get better depend on various factors.

Speaking for my self, distance/ endurance running has become a part of my life. It has given me a great perspective from which to look at my life. I know if I wasn't a distance runner, I would have never seen some the great sites I visited while travelling for work. On my first night in Vienna, I clocked an extra 5k to my daily run because I got lost. I wouldn't complain though. Discovering, the monuments of Vienna, alone, in the dark was a fantastic experience. Considering that most of us who travel for work, we never really get a chance to see the cities we visit, running helps. The Champs-Elysee would have been different for my my brother and I, on our visit to Paris if we were both not addicted to staying fit.

Distance running or endurance training develops different muscles. To be a better runner one has to change the way one lives. This includes diet, rest periods and schedules. As a result, I also found that it gives one a different way to see every day life. It changes the way you live daily. I enjoy it, (I don't like it) immensely.