So, you’re exploring the possibility that you might become a runner. It may seem foreign to you now, but hopefully soon, it will be something that you look back on and say, I'm glad that I did this. Well, I'm Jesse Funk and on today's episode of Runner's High, I'm going to share with you the benefits of running.
Really, the first most obvious benefit of running is increased fitness, which is awesome. You know, there's something to be said about when you are in better shape, you can move around the world without as much hindrance. Now, that sounds a little esoteric, the way I put it because I'm trying to make this kind of generality. But what I'm getting at is that when you're in better shape, you have a better cardiovascular system, that can be worked on while you're running. You can work on your power while you're running by running faster, running up hills or doing agility sprints. There's all variations of running you can do to increase different kinds of fitness.
But when you are in better shape, and you can move around the world that hindrance like I mentioned, that means basically that you can do things without getting as tired with having more energy. Which means you feel better throughout the day, and it's easier to have a good day. Don’t we all want to have a good day? I mean, isn't that kind of the goal every day we get up out of bed. We want to have a good day. We don't get out of bed thinking shit, I wish today could be the worst day possible. That's exactly what I want. No, you want to have a good day every day.
Not every day can be a good day. But when you're in worse shape, or I've experienced this one injured and my mobility is limited, things become much more difficult. Life becomes a little more frustrating and it is harder to make maintain that kind of more positive outlook when you don't have the ability to move like you want to. And it kind of sneaks up on you, right?
You know, you've been eating a lot of things right now. While I'm recording this video is the season of eating, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's all coming together lots of sweets. And it kind of sneaks up on you that degradation of your fitness over time. And you don't really notice how you are progressing or really, regressing and not able to do as many things. So, when you run, help yourself, stay in better shape and allow yourself to frankly, live a better life because you have greater mobility.
Second benefit of running, probably going to sleep better. Now, this is actually a couple of things. First, you're going to be tired so you need that sleep to recover. But you're burning up this energy, you go to bed, your body's like, okay, shut it down, now you need to sleep. I know there have been times when I've worked out and ran too much and actually can sleep less or have a harder time sleeping and that's actually an indication that you're working too hard.
But when you're kind of working within the bounds of your own body, stretching yourself a little bit, but not too much, then your body's definitely going to signal you hey, it's time to sleep. Sleeping becomes a little bit easier. I'm sure there are caveats to this, people with insomnia. Even though they run there's other externalities, other factors that are playing into issues there. But generally speaking, running and working in general is going to help you sleep better.
Number three, I talked about this in my other video about reasons to run, but it is a benefit as well and that's being a part of a community. Because when you're part of a community, you connect with other people and that brings happiness into your life, right? Isn't the idea that we want to have a better life enhanced by being a part of a community?
Because we are social creatures, no matter, you know, even people like me who are very introverted, I work by myself, which is awesome. I love not having to deal with kind of office politics and that kind of day to day headache, but I still love to connect with people. And it's awesome to connect to people with things that you enjoy.
So, if you enjoy running, it's definitely a benefit. Getting together to run a race or going to your local running shop and doing the weekly run with the club. Or like in my case, I've met people from around the country so sometimes we get together and national championships. Or I'm actually going back out to Manitou Springs to run the incline again in the spring.
If you didn't see that my view on running the incline, subscribe to the channel and go check that out. But one of my friends I know he lives in Michigan, he's probably gonna come out and run with me. How can I do that? Well, we're friends, and we're part of this community, this thing that we do, which is running. So, that's definitely the third benefit of running and that is being a part of a community.
My fourth and final benefit for running is increased self-esteem. Now, this may seem, again, a little esoteric, kind of what we're talking about benefits of running outside of the physiology. But when you are running, you're getting in better shape. When you're getting in better shape, you feel better, and you can feel better about yourself because you are working towards your goals, doing something that you love, being a part of a community.
All of these things help increase your self-esteem, make you feel better about yourself. And when you feel better about yourself, then you're more easily going to move forward with other goals. Whether it be personal goals or career goals or family goals or whatever it is in your life that you want to do, when you feel good about yourself, then you can do those things.
Self-Esteem plays such a huge role in what we decide to do in our lives. If we don't feel that we're good enough to do something, we're probably not going to go after that. So, it is crucial to understand that you do things to build up your self-esteem. And it's almost a positive feedback loop where when you feel good about yourself, then you're more likely to pursue the things that you want or need in your life.
And because you feel good about yourself, even if you have setbacks in those things, it's more likely that you continue forward then eventually succeeding. Increasing that self-esteem in that you knew you could succeed and you did creating more positive feedback.
Now running isn’t a cure-all. It's not going to make you win the lottery and make you beautiful or handsome and rich and famous, it's not going to do all of these things for you by itself. But it is one tool in your tool bag in kind of becoming a better person. ?? 7:10> talk about these things from time to time, because for me running is not just about running.
Running is about, you know, kind of a personal journey inwards and figuring out who I am, and how I can be a better person. Running as a tool to make me stronger and a lot of ways. I actually talked about this with author Matt Fitzgerald in the Smart Athlete Podcast. If you've not seen that interview with Matt, hit that subscribe button right there, bottom right-hand corner, then go check that out.
Matt and I talked about his newest book, Life is a Marathon where running really helped him kind of stay together through all the struggles and strife that he and his wife have gone through in their marriage and his life. All these things that kind of come at you that help Matt, and I would say self-esteem, push through these things. They taught him lessons that were not just about how to go faster.
So, remember, running isn't always about running. And a lot of these benefits, at least to me aren’t always just about physical things and we're always just getting better running. We're trying to become better people. So, that's all I have for you today. I'll see you next time on the next episode of Runner’s High.