Running in 50 States Update and Why I Run

I expect to give a health update after my next scans in April. So far I’ve been tolerating the new medication regimen pretty well and I’m hopeful that it is working. In the meantime, spring is almost here and I have some fun things on the horizon.

Shortly after my metastatic diagnosis I set a goal of running a race in all 50 states. On March 23rd, I will run a race in Hawaii, my 46th state. At the time, I wasn’t sure if the 50 state goal was a great idea, but I knew it was relatively low risk, high reward and would not only allow me to pursue two of my passions, running and traveling, but would also force me to be more intentional with how I spent my free time. After all, time is our most precious commodity, especially as we get older and/or sicker. After running in 40 states over the past 6 ½ years (5 were completed prior to 2018), I feel really happy that I am on this quest. I’ve visited places and seen things that I know I would otherwise not have by the age of 45. And while my boys and husband definitely don’t share my enthusiasm for running or traveling; they have, by default, also seen and experienced things that I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have made it to by this point, including Acadia National Park in Maine, the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama; among many other things. We definitely wouldn’t be going to Hawaii at this point in our lives. 

The ability to go out for a run is not something I take for granted. Watching a red carpet interview recently, the actress Felicity Jones was asked about going for a morning run and replied that her day could not start properly without a morning run. I can identify with that completely. I have not been able to run at different points in my life for different reasons: bearing children, surgeries, and injuries among them. Fortunately I was generally able to substitute running with walking most of the time, but for me, it isn’t the same. The feelings produced by the endorphins released when running are probably the main contributing factor to my enjoyment of running. And while I’m definitely not in peak athletic shape, I think my experience with running has enabled me to find a sweet spot while running where the workout is intense enough to release endorphins, but easy enough to be relatively painless. That’s a pretty special situation that I know I couldn’t achieve in other aerobic sports such as swimming or biking. With running I have found my peace. I found the feeling I assume others feel in meditation and yoga. The athletic component is a bonus. The other bonus of running outdoors like I do is that I get to view nature’s beauty daily. Almost anytime someone posts a picture of a sunrise in the Madison area, I can say I viewed it first hand on my run that morning. 

I just realized I’m getting a little too high on running and probably painting an artificial picture. In full disclosure, what I truly need to get my day started is a half pot of coffee. Then I have to give myself a pep talk, almost every time, to go outside, face the elements, and get moving. I, like most other humans, would take lying on the couch any day over running. Running always feels better once I get a minute into it. Running is definitely a situation of choosing enjoyment over momentary pleasure, of stepping out into the elements with the knowledge that soon my mind will be good and the endorphins will be flowing. Everyone is built differently also. Even veteran runners like myself need to assess what their body will give them. I used to run marathons (26.2 mile races) and now I doubt I could hobble through a half marathon, I just take what my body gives me. 

Running as a hobby does have a couple of downfalls. First, most people can’t run forever. Second, I don’t really feel like I bring anything to the table while running. I don’t produce beautiful music or artwork with my hobby. I don’t make anything like someone who takes up knitting or another craft might. I think that’s why I’m always a little reluctant to talk about running, it can seem selfish and wasteful. That being said, one underlying positive of running is community connection. While running seems like a solo, lone wolf sport, I find myself intertwined with every neighborhood and route I run. I know every community I’ve ever lived in as a runner. I know the houses, the trails, and, in Iowa especially, the fields. I recently told my son that growing up as a runner in rural Iowa, I ran towards the nearest cornfield and just kept running. While we ironically probably live closer to a corn field in our Madison location then I did in my “town” house in Estherville, corn fields are somewhat of an enigma to my boys. I think what my son imagined when I said surrounding myself with corn fields was literally running through corn stalks like bamboo stalks in a jungle adventure movie. Rest assured I didn’t not actually trespass on farmland and destroy a local farmer’s crop and livelihood. I just found a gravel road, quieter than you could probably imagine if you’re not familiar with rural America, and lost myself in the corn, sky, and gravel. As a student in college towns like Ames, Iowa and Madison, Wisconsin, I missed the convenience and nearness of the fields I had grown to love in Estherville, but I found updated trails all over both cities that almost always followed a river or lake that could serve as an adequate substitute. Finally, before circling back to living in Madison, I spent some time as a pharmacist in downtown Milwaukee. I would say I hate running through busy streets and traffic lights to the same extent I love gravel roads. But the prize at the end of about 10 minutes of suffering through the noisy, start-stop chaos that was downtown Milwaukee was the beautiful Lake Michigan and the endless miles of trails and parks that bordered it. The Great Lakes are a treasure to the upper midwest and I will always appreciate the fact that Wisconsin borders two of them. 

And now, with my 50 state race project, I’ve gotten to experience communities all across the United States through my running eyes and with my running feet. I’ve run through college campuses, large and small; local parks; suburbs and cities; open fields and busy highways. Through running the races I’ve also contributed to many local causes: scholarship funds; local recreation clubs, and various awareness campaigns supporting infants, cancer, and everything in between. So, in that, I don’t feel like my love for running is all for nothing. Every time I finish a race in another state is a cause for celebration. While I can’t always control or prevent the negatives in this crazy life, I can add positives and that’s what running does for me.