{"id":7117,"date":"2024-09-01T16:01:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T08:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/?p=7117"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:13:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T04:13:44","slug":"what-i-learnt-from-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/2024\/09\/what-i-learnt-from-running\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learnt from Running"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s 6.30AM in the morning. Your alarm rings. Why on earth would you crawl out of your cozy bed, put on your shoes, and willingly subject yourself to pain both physically and mentally? Yet every day<\/em>, against all logic, millions around the world do this. This is the puzzle of running. It is one that most non-runners do not understand, and that most runners do not bother explaining. As Murakami writes in his memoir, \u201cI\u2019ve never recommended running to others\u2026 If they are not interested in it, no amount of persuasion will make any difference\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I am far behind Murakami in running (and writing) experience, I believe that there is no harm in recommending running to others. So in this piece, I aim to offer my perspective on what running has taught me (an amateur runner). I hope to show that the beauty of running comes not in spite of <\/em>but rather because of <\/em>the mental and physical demands it exerts. Which, in fact, extends beyond running and onto much of life, and facing its challenges head-on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people talk about what they enjoy from a run, they often list benefits like \u201cFresh air\u201d; \u201cRunners\u2019 High\u201d; \u201cClears my mind\u201d; \u201cKeeps me in a meditative state\u201d; \u201cAllows me to explore new places\u201d; \u201cRadiant morning sun\u201d; \u201cNature bathing\u201d. Or perhaps people run to \u201cStay fit and burn calories so that we can worry less about how much we eat\u201d. All these are reasons why I love running. I miss the irresistible feeling of returning from a run for a hearty breakfast, while sharing with your friends the new route to Rail Corridor that you found in the morning \u2013 all while you bask in the post-run endorphins and the remnant glows of the morning sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indisputable fact<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the truth is that no matter how aplenty these benefits are, the fact is that running is hard<\/em>. Running is a constant battle within oneself: between mind and body; grit and instinct; fiery will and fickle wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in this also lies the beauty of running: Whether or not you choose to run or choose to stop depends on you, and you alone. In a group project you can blame a result on groupmates; in a football game you can give the excuse of the opponent being \u2018on form\u2019 \u2013 but in a run, there are no excuses. You can blame the weather, or blame your sleep, but in the end you still come face to face with the undeniable, indisputable fact that whether or not you show up and run <\/em>depends on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So every time I drag myself out of bed to run, every time I reject the inner bargain to \u201ccut one lap today\u201d, and every time I put another foot forward in spite of a heavy step and a whining heart\u2026 I am showing myself that I am in control of my decisions: I can do what I set out to do, and the obstacles aren\u2019t going to stop me<\/em>. And so every time I run, I am training not my lungs but my discipline; building not my muscles but my confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, it is precisely<\/em> because running is hard that pushing through gives one a quiet self-confidence that they can apply to other parts of their life: from sticking to a clean diet, to resisting the urge to scroll TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes you realise: you can do what YOU want, not what your impulses demand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Month after month<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s pause here to consider another element of running: its yardsticks are clear. In a world full of contested benchmarks and subjectivity, whereby sometimes it\u2019s hard to say whether you are \u2018improving\u2019 (e.g. Is my writing getting better or worse?), <\/em>running shines clear with its largely uncontested and easily-measured benchmark: Faster is better. No illusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having clear benchmarks for progress will probably motivate us to stay consistent, right\u2026? If only<\/em>! Sometimes I still struggle; indeed, there will be hard days and harder days. But keep going, as my TikTok feed likes to say: do it tired, do it scared, but just do it<\/em>. Just show up. Consistency at 30% every day is better than 100% once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And over time, it does <\/em>get easier \u2013 one day you find that the heaviness in your feet is gone, or that you don\u2019t feel like stopping even after 6km, or that you are able to run at a 4min10s\/km pace without panting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you won\u2019t improve after one day or one week, and of course there will be streaks where it gets harder before it gets better. But running teaches you to measure progress not in terms of days and weeks, but in months and years. And that if you stick<\/em> through the course, week after week, month after month, then improvement is a certainty. Slowly, but surely. No illusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The taste of an unseasoned avocado<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In truth, this is not about running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are an accumulation of our actions. When we choose a sweet drink to enhance our unseasoned meal\u2026 or when we greytick a friend whom we are lazy to reply to\u2026 or when we click \u2018Next Episode\u2019 even though we had promised ourselves that that would have been our last episode for the night<\/em>. We may think, \u201cjust this once\u201d, but everything we do is a step towards the person we are becoming. Our actions build habits, habits build character, and character builds destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I often imagine my life as a graph: every action I do, or don\u2019t do, is a plot point towards the person I become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is like running: it may be hard to do what we know is good for us. And there will be hard days and harder days! But, just like running, the choice is ours. Do it tired, do it scared \u2013 just keep doing it! Keep showing up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like running, over time, it does<\/em> get easier. You find yourself waking up before the alarm rings at 6.30AM, or you notice that you no longer feel the urge to open TikTok on the bus, or you start to enjoy the taste of an unseasoned avocado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, just as our current self is partially a consequence of our past actions, so too do our current choices become the causes for our future self. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, this is not asking you to always be hard on yourself, or to never take breaks, or to ignore how your body is feeling and always \u2018press on\u2019. Neither is this suggesting that we should follow certain benchmarks set by others and use that to judge our own actions. Our aspirations, priorities, and core values are for us to consciously decide, even if they may seem debatable to others. So be it \u2013 but that is a discussion for another piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet amidst these aspirations of ours, we often find our daily lives punctuated with micro-inertia that pulls us in the opposite direction. My point is that we have control over how we respond to these inertias, and that this gets easier if we keep sticking to the course, and that running is one way to build this habit. Day in, day out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So perhaps the next time you find yourself facing a dissonance between what you \u2018want\u2019 in the impulsive moment, versus what you know is best for you based on your aspirations and values, I hope that understanding the causes and consequences of your actions will compel you to put down that phone, or say that \u201cthank you\u201d, or put on your running shoes \u2013 and step towards the \u2018you\u2019 that you aim to become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It gets easier. Everyday it gets a little easier. But you got to do it everyday; that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.” <\/em><\/p>from BoJack Horseman<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun Yi is a Year 2 Undergraduate studying Psychology. Before picking up an injury, he used to run between three to five times a week, plus another few hours of cardio from recreational sports like Rowing and Frisbee. Ever since tearing his ACL and Meniscus, he has been faithfully working towards the day he can run again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Banner and Cover images from Unsplash<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

🕗 5 Minute Read<\/b><\/span>
\nRunning is hard. Why do people still choose to run, and what can running teach us? Jun Yi reflects on lessons from running that extend onto life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":7120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_type-reflection","theme-philosophy","theme-psychology","scope-others","flavour-inspiring","flavour-relaxed"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7117"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7198,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions\/7198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}