If you've been reading any time in the last several years, you may have sensed that running and I have been on the outs. After a series of injuries, followed by grad school, followed by more injuries, I have struggled to find the joy in running that I used to.


Back when running was fun

There was a span of years in the early 2010s where I readily spent large parts of my discretionary income on race entry fees. I was in half-marathon shape pretty much year round, meaning if a friend said, "Hey do you want to run a race with me in two weeks," I could very easily say yes.

I pulled myself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. regularly to log miles before work. Running was fun and easy, and I made it a priority.

But as injuries piled up, running stopped being fun. I was so annoyed that every time I started to finally find a running grove again, I ended up hurt. So I let running stop being a priority and focused my time and energy on other things.

A few days ago, I went with my good friend to see Brittany Runs a Marathon. The movie is a comedy loosely based on a real-life runner named Brittany who started running because she wanted to get in better shape.

In the movie, Brittany's doctor tells her she needs to lose something like 55 lbs to not be considered obese according to the BMI chart. After at first ignoring the doctor's advice, Brittany convinces herself to just run around the block once.

She does that a couple of times, and then her neighbor invites her to join her at the local running group. The neighbor is very in shape, but Brittany befriends another back-of-the-pack runner and the three new friends make a pact to run the New York City Marathon.

Marathon training has a lot of emotional ups and downs and Brittany and her group of friends experience most of them. The movie made me laugh, and it made me cry. It also made me very mad at fictional Brittany's poor life choices. But most importantly perhaps, the movie reminded me of all the good things about running.

I've been working on reestablishing my own running routine, and the movie was the perfect reminder of all the things I used to love about running -- the community, the challenges it provides, the ability to be outside enjoying gorgeous weather.

I'm hoping I'll be able to find all those things again with my own running soon. In the meantime, I'll just keep telling everyone how much I loved this movie.

P.S. Runner's World has a good story on the the real-life Brittany.