Run!

There is a moment in every single person's life (and for most of us, each and every day) in which we just want to bust loose. If you're sitting there at your work desk, looking out the window and admiring the modestly warm April sun outside your window, I bet you wish that you were outside doing something, anything, that will get you away from the desk and outside. Or have you ever been walking down the street and just have that urge to run? I don't mean the, "there's someone walking 6 paces behind me and breathing heavier than I am comfortable with and my heart is racing and my palms are sweaty and I need to bolt to save my life," kinda urge to run. I mean the feeling of having pent up energy that you just want to break loose because the sun is so warm and the mood is hitting you just right (or that triple venti latte is making your skin crawl). Am I crazy or does this sensation happen to other people besides me? Sometimes if I just want to get to my destination sooner, the drive to run is nearly overwhelming.

99.99% of us don't run when the moment hits us. Is it the fear of everyone looking and judging us as we flail down the street? Is it knowing that we'd only make it 3 blocks before we get a cramp and buckle over in pain? Maybe it could be as simple as carrying a heavy bag at the moment and running with it would prove to be impossible. Apart from the times when I am out walking the dogs in a giant field somewhere, I think only once in public did I ever give in and just booked it in a full run until I couldn't run anymore. It felt good though. Very satisfying.

This thought process kind of came to me when I was walking to work today and witnessed this little puppy trying with all of his might to run as fast as hit puppy legs could take him. Unfortunately he was on a leash and the owner put out zero effort to run with the little guy or at least attempt to calm him down. But I can't imagine how frustrated he must have been! He would run in one direction, get choked off by the leash, bolt in another direction, get choked again then try another direction again! I mean, as hilarious as this was to watch him try again and again and again to run his little puppy heart out, only to be defeated again and again and again by his confinement to the leash, my heart broke that he was trying to give into his animal instinct to run and burn off his energy and enjoy the sunshine.

I'm sure that most people have witnessed a dog break into a full run for no reason other than to just run and enjoy the wind whipping through its ears. Why don't we give in as easily as them? We have the freedom and a lot of us have the desire, but we chose not to. Just think about how good it would feel to get out there and do it. Little kids do it all the time...so why not adults? Remember that episode of Friends when Phoebe and Rachel went running in the park and Rachel got a lesson on how running should be about feeling good and to not worry about what she looked like? Next time you deny yourself the right of your physical freedom, think of the poor puppy on a leash. Get out there and just run (or at least walk briskly).