Life is better as a runner

My professor and mentor in undergrad once told our class (Biodiversity and Conservation Policy) that his mentor in college told him that the best advice/philosophy to live by he could give was "It's ok to fart when you run". At the time a lot of people laughed (since anything referencing flatulence is funny, right?) but I think a lot of people thought that was some crummy, and weird, advice. I was just confused by it. Until the following year, which was my first year in veterinary school. And the first year I started running. My dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the week before I left for vet school. I was driving home every Tuesday afternoon (since in first year vet school at Tufts they gave you that afternoon off to study) and every weekend to visit him in hospice. It was stressful to say the least. Some of my vet school classmates told me I was crazy and that they would have taken a leave of absence their first year if it had been them. I would not have it, my dad had been so proud that I was going to be the first Dr. Nielsen and that I was going to vet school. The first thing he told my mom after they gave him the diagnosis was "I'm not going to see Lindsey graduate from vet school" with a completely disappointed but accepting face. So I needed to do something for the stress. And what did I do? I started running. Slowly at first. 1 mile runs, then 2. My dad died mid-October. By April I had signed up for my first marathon the following summer. Now I won't go in to my experience running that first marathon (it was bad) but the 5 that have come since have all mostly good experiences/memories associated with them. But I have grown a lot since that first year of running. I am not as good a runner as I was my third year of vet school now, but I am still a runner, and I have realized life is better as a runner. I don't say that to be self-righteous. I am not built like a runner, I am not tall or svelte. I am actually rather squat in my opinion (5 foot 4 inches, 145 pounds, and yes I have a beer gut, or actually it is more of a wine gut since I can't get enough of that wonderful red liquid), I have issues with portion control (I love my vegan food too much), and I am not fast (at my fastest in vet school I ran 8:30 minute miles, now I am back to a 10:00 mile, 9:30 on a good day). I blame the residency. But I stick with it. It would be easy to stop, but I can't, if I go more than 2 days without running it's like I start tremoring inside and need to be let out. And it makes me a better person. Life is better as a runner, you are more balanced, stronger, despite not being skinny I would be 30-50# heavier if I didn't run, and it keeps your mood level. It gives you something to look forward to on your less busy days, it gives you time to enjoy the music as well as take in the sites. I have seen so many wonderful scenes of wildlife on my runs, and I live in Back Bay (the heart of downtown Boston). Life is better as a runner. So with that sad, what sparked this blog? My run last night was quite hilarious. Winter running can be tough. It is cold, but that can be tolerated with layers. The wind is the worst. And the ice. I have yak trax to put on my shoes and help ont slip when running in ice or snow. We had a big snowstorm 2 weeks ago now, but it still hasn't all melted. There are usually 2-3 twenty to thirty foot stretches of ice on my normal running routes that I have to avoid or use yak trax for, but running with them on directly on the pavement is slippery and wears them out. So I tried to go on a different route thinking it might be more cleared last night: I ran along the Fens and by Longwood. There are lots of ducks in Boston, but last night I saw a ton of female mallards being chased by males, and started thinking back to my undergrad animal behavior courses where they talked about teams of young mallard males raping females (yikes, bad imagery for a run) and figured it must be about that time of year when the mallards are mating (and hopefully not raping) to get their little ducklings ready for spring. Then I hit a stretch along Longwood that was pure ice. I was too far in to the trail to turn around and decided to stick it out. Any runner knows, when you are having a good run it SUCKS to stop mid-stride, so even with obstacles you try to "run" through them. So this particular ice stretch was probably 100 feet long, and I tried to "run" through it without yak trax, which meant high-stepping, silly side steps, and lots of torking on the ankles. I must of looked like quite an idiot, but of course in the darkness a good song came on (Call Me Maybe) and I thought of the Cookie Monster version to it, and started singing out loud in a silly Cookie Monster voice to that version, laughing to myself. I did all this thinking I was alone only to have some kids smoking pot come out from the woods nearby laughing at me. I should know better, you are never "alone" on a Boston run, there will always be a nearby homeless man, kids smoking pot, or some other runner you didn't notice sneaking up behind you. Oh well. I continued along, finally reaching the end of the ice stretch, and into the home stretch of the run. As I turned the corner on the last part of my run I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, and turned just in time to get whacked in the head by, you guessed it, a female mallard. The advancing male was on the sidewalk a couple feet away. The poor girl hit me in the head, and was already ungraceful as she flew, but hitting my head caused me to get dizzy and caused her to fall in to the middle of the road panting. Luckily it was on a quiet part of the Fens, and I was able to chase her out of the road before she was hit by a car. I just hope the unwanted male left her along after that. And I made it home. That was a long blog, but I never concluded my understanding of my professor's philosophy. Here is what I think he meant: if you are out there running you shouldn't care what other people think about you, just be yourself. Life is better as a runner, and if you need to fart while running, how dare anyone lecture you about what you should and shouldn't do on a run, enjoy yourself. If that means ripping one out, well, so be it. If that means singing outloud to Cookie Monster's version of Call Me Maybe, smile while you do it and don't worry if some high kids see you. If that means blowing snot rockets to keep your nose clear, please do try to watch out for the runner beside you, but otherwise, clear that nose. But get out there and run, and enjoy it. : )