While running is an individual sport, you often share really great experiences with other people (usually awesome strangers):
I really enjoy running races because I always have positive experiences with the other athletes (and spectators, too)! Once you get past the pack at the Start Line, and you start to settle into your pace, you often end up running near similar paced athletes for the entire race. There is a certain camaraderie that develops during these long miles. The journey somehow bonds you with these other runners, even if sometimes you play a little bit of cat and mouse along the way. I always seem to make "friends" in this way, even if we never exchange a single word the entire voyage.
In my most recent race, the Charles St. 12 Miler, I had two specific runners that I ran nearby for most of the race. There was some back and forth as to who was in front and who was trailing. We struggled up the same hills, we got to experience the same spectators cheering us on with their funny signs, and we were a part of the same "battle". In the end of the Charles St. 12, both of these runners came up to me post-race. The one runner came over to shake my hand and tell me how I helped her get through those hills and that she tried, but couldn't catch me in the end. The other one simply nodded his head and said "great run".
Running next to these runners, where we all have the same goal in mind (to finish-maybe in a certain time), is truly an awesome feeling. We are silent motivators for other runners, just as they are for us. We participate in an event that is similar to all involved, but also very different. Just one of the many reasons that running is awesome! Don't run? Try a 5k! Maybe you'll get to experience this awesomeness.
I really enjoy running races because I always have positive experiences with the other athletes (and spectators, too)! Once you get past the pack at the Start Line, and you start to settle into your pace, you often end up running near similar paced athletes for the entire race. There is a certain camaraderie that develops during these long miles. The journey somehow bonds you with these other runners, even if sometimes you play a little bit of cat and mouse along the way. I always seem to make "friends" in this way, even if we never exchange a single word the entire voyage.
In my most recent race, the Charles St. 12 Miler, I had two specific runners that I ran nearby for most of the race. There was some back and forth as to who was in front and who was trailing. We struggled up the same hills, we got to experience the same spectators cheering us on with their funny signs, and we were a part of the same "battle". In the end of the Charles St. 12, both of these runners came up to me post-race. The one runner came over to shake my hand and tell me how I helped her get through those hills and that she tried, but couldn't catch me in the end. The other one simply nodded his head and said "great run".
Running next to these runners, where we all have the same goal in mind (to finish-maybe in a certain time), is truly an awesome feeling. We are silent motivators for other runners, just as they are for us. We participate in an event that is similar to all involved, but also very different. Just one of the many reasons that running is awesome! Don't run? Try a 5k! Maybe you'll get to experience this awesomeness.