Running is a drug
Once you get into running, you may never go back. It's really great activity which makes a lot of people happier, connects with others, helps you to be in a good shape. It really changes your life. Today (2010.06.14) I was running with a guy I have met today. He is 39 years old and he began to run just 2 years ago. In two years he made 8 marathons. That's a really nice thing to do in 2 first years. He said that in the beginning he just wanted to complete a marathon, but just after finishing his first marathon, the first thought was "How to run my second marathon faster?". Now he's not fighting just with distance, he is fighting with time. He wants to run a marathon faster and faster.
And as I see, it happens to a lot of people. At first they want just to try running, when they want to run 5k, 10k and at last a marathon. And again - a marathon is not enough. People want to run more and more, they want to improve their times in every distance.
Why does it happen?
At first, I think, running is very healthy drug. It helps to be in much better shape than you may were before. It's very healthy to run. You lose extra weight, you become more active in your life, you don't get tired so fast, you can enjoy any other activity you couldn't before because of being too slow or weak.
Secondly, running is a very simple sport. You can run where you want - forest, meadow, street and every other place where you can stand on a ground. Besides, running is very very cheap sport. You don't need to pay for a sport club, you don't need very expensive sport clothes, you don't need any special equipment and so on.
Thirdly, running is about challenge. It's about beating your limits. When you start to run, you think just about running 20 minutes, after this you start to think about 5k, 10k and so on. You want to run a marathon. After this you want to run a marathon in 3hours30 minutes. You may want to run 5k in 22 minutes.
And last, but not least... Running is about joy. When you run in a forest, you really feel relaxed and happy. Your thoughts are flying around and you just enjoy the moment. You run and you now how good running is for you - you become healthier, stronger, faster and happier.
And there are many more (thousands) reasons why a lot of people enjoy running and don't want to go back to the life without running.
Running is the best drug in the world!
Feel the joy of running!