Running & Writing — The Mantra for Success Isn’t Too Different
Because the human body and mind are designed to be trained
My love affair with writing is probably older than my love for running. Yet I have spent more time and effort running than I have on writing.
My first stint with writing came around 2010–11, when I was in my residential MBA program, and started a novice blog. It was all of 12–15 posts, but it was something I enjoyed while it lasted. My experiment with running only began in 2012–13 when I realized I didn’t have as much stamina as I would like at the age of 24–25.
The love for running grew and by 2016 I’d done three 100k ultra walkathons, six half marathons, a duathlon in the Himalayas, and a series of other runs.
The love for writing however got lost in the quest for a professional career in finance that kept me busy, until the year 2020. The year when by virtue of staying home more than we’d like, we had the opportunity to find the time and ways to rekindle our passions — and for me, it was writing.
Now at about four months into my writing journey on Medium, and close to 150 stories, I’ve come to realize the basic principles and skills that are needed to succeed at writing have a big overlap with what it takes to be a runner.
The First Step is the Hardest One
The biggest challenge in giving something new a serious shot is the resistance to change — or what is referred to by science as inertia.
Inertia is the tendency of a body to preserve its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force.
This is the biggest reason why the first step towards any new skill or hobby is the hardest one to take.
Why should I even do this? Is there any benefit to doing this? Will I be good at it or am I even cut out to do this? Am I missing out on anything by not doing this? Why change?
Countless questions that have no real answers. The only answer is: If you never try, you will never find out.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
The Human Mind and Body are Designed to be Trained
The biggest myth about achieving success at anything is that — you need to be born with it.
Most of us lesser mortals aren’t born with a certain skill that will magically develop itself and make us legends in a specific field. Greatness is most often achieved by constant hard work and perseverance.
In fact, a number of accomplished writers are believed to have had dyslexia including one of the most prolific storytellers of all time — Agatha Christie. She once reportedly said,
“I, myself, was always recognized…as the ‘slow one’ in the family. It was quite true, and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was…an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day.”
The same goes for distance running. The first time I stepped on a treadmill to check how long I can run without needing to stop — I ran out of steam at 800 meters. Yet, a year later I ran my first half marathon in a little over 2 hours. From 800 meters to 21 km / 13 miles is some journey — and I am only an amateur at best.
The human mind and the human body have infinite untapped potential, only waiting to be unlocked via regular training, discipline, and earnest effort.
Both Running and Writing Get Easier and More Enjoyable with Time
As much as I love running, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I always have hated the first few miles after a long break.
It’s neither fun nor effortless — it takes a significant amount of effort and pain to get through it.
Yet, once you run consistently — the effort starts to go down, and the enjoyment and the high you get from running increases exponentially. In fact, if you run long enough, you hit something call the second wind, where the same thing that seemed like an effort so far, suddenly seems much easier. In most of my half marathons, the easiest miles have come somewhere between the middle and the end of the race.
The same goes for writing. When I sit down to write a new piece, the first few words and sentences are laborious and seem to take a lifetime to flow. Yet, once you get into a rhythm, the words just fall in place and the experience becomes enjoyable.
You Are Your Only True Competition
If you’re in it for the love of writing or running, there’s no one you’re competing with but yourself.
You’re constantly trying to be the best version of yourself — the best writer you can be, or the best/fastest runner you can be. In fact, both the fields thrive on a “community” system where fellow writers and runners support each other more than they compete with each other.
Some of the best camaraderies can be seen between marathoners with heart-warming stories of helping a competitor recover from a fall, even when it meant giving up your gold medal chances.
Kenyan runner Simon Cheprot was a recent example of this. He forfeited his win at Okpekpe Int’l 10KM Road Race in Nigeria to help his friend & track rival Kenneth Kipkemoi who collapsed a few meters from the finish line.
Later in an interview, Cheprot said:
“My dad told me one day, ‘When you’re walking and you meet a sick person on the road, help him. Do not leave him’, so that was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw my friend on the ground,”
The support and collaborative spirit of writers is something that we all know of especially here on this platform, where everyone constantly volunteers to help other writers in the endeavor to be better writers.
These are only a few of the common characteristics that it takes to succeed at writing as well as running. I am sure when you give it some thought, you’ll probably find a ton of more similarities in your own journeys as writers and runners. Give it a thought and take my word that if you’re a runner, you can surely be a writer and vice versa. So, happy running, and happy writing!