Why I Run

I am beginning a segment on my blog called “Why I Run” because there are so many reasons to why I do it and they continue to accumulate.

I am going to start with something quite dear to my heart. I wish I could say it was my health, the social network or the challenge but no…it is food.

Like most runners, I LOVE to eat. I love that extra ravenous appetite that long mileage provides and how absolutely unreal food tastes afterwards. I am a walking juxtaposition, because although I appear to belong in the world of true runners, I am in no way a health nut. I take straight up butter instead of margarine, cream instead of milk in my coffee and if I am going to have peanut butter on my toast you better believe you are going to know it is there! I don’t skimp on spreads, portions or taste. Food is to be enjoyed and I really do. I can heartily stand behind Luciano Pavarotti’s famous quote: “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop what we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”

I will never be the waif that soars across the finish line of the Boston Marathon because I have no desire to be. Last night, my family and I went out to Oliver and Bonacini and I found myself immersed in veal, gnocchi and chocolate mousse. I had run before dinner and I enjoyed my meal with gusto. Eating and running are separate entities for me, but they both serve to only enrich the other.

I run for that hunger that can only come from long stretches of road and I eat so I can run.

Why do you run?