There are lots of
different kinds of runners. There are
optimal weather runners who come out in the spring and fall (sometimes very
overdressed) and run. There are ultra-marathoners
who thrive on long, hard runs that take days, not hours to finish. There are newbie runners who started running
for fun or exercise or to raise money who may become one of the other types of
runners, but aren’t there yet. There are
runners who run to compete in races for fun.
There are runners who run for exercise and that’s it—no more, no
less. And then there are runners
who run because running is part of who they are. This type of runner may also be one of the
other types of runners (and I apologize if I forgot a category), but when
running is part of you, your day or week isn’t complete without running. It is an outlet. It is a time for reflection. It is you time. If you
have an injury and can’t run the not running is almost as painful as the
injury. Matt is in this last
category. When I question his judgment
about running in bad weather or the dark or fill in the blank condition he gives
me a look that tells me he just needs to get out for a run. It doesn’t have to be a good run or a long
run, but he needs to have that time alone with the road and his thoughts. As I put in one of the write-ups, running was
an outlet for Matt when he lost his vision.
Although he’s accepted his vision loss, he has bad days. There’s nothing I can say that will make him
feel better. But for whatever reason,
even a twenty minute run seems to help him.
I’m a runner too, but I don’t have the same connection with running that
he does. Maybe it is because he doesn’t need
to ask for help to run. Or maybe he’d
need running just as much if he hadn’t lost his vision as he does now. But whatever the reason, describing Matt as a
runner is just like describing him as a redhead. He just is.
We’ve been having bouts of torrential rain the last few
days. I have opted to skip a few days of
running, but Matt has been out there. He
did suggest doing track on Thursday this week, but Amazon said that his new
spikes arrived so I am guessing he might be out there anyway. That’s just the runner that he is. What kind of runner are you?
My husband Matt is a lot of things. He is a wonderful husband to me and father to our three (adorable!) little children. He is an avid runner. He’s a financial analyst. He’s also legally blind. This blog is my attempt to follow him on his journey to the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. We have no idea what this journey will look like, or exactly how we’ll get there, but we are determined to try.
Does the kind that sits on the sideline and support count ;)
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