The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer

by David Roche

are some simple methods to make the choice easier. Our athletes are instructed not to have the watch beep at mile markers, and to make sure the display screen doesn’t show distance at all.

The process of documenting your goals, and keeping track of your progress, has been shown to be a key factor in successfully changing your behaviors, just as Gretchen Rubin did in her Happiness Project and Ben Franklin did with his “Virtues Chart.”

Megan’s is that it makes her a better person over time, just like that little girl who ran laps around the house to find contentedness. David’s is that it takes away some of his self-doubt and allows him to find the person he truly is, just like that little boy who lived unhappily inside of his own head.

Second, ask yourself: “Why do I run each day?” This one is more granular, driving your decision to get out the door each day. It can be less meaningful and spiritual too. Megan’s are endorphins and the power of running to instantly provide positive emotional input. David’s are experiences and the power of running to make everything feel more real and less ephemeral.

Third, ask yourself: “Why am I racing at all?” This one structures not whether you are a runner, but the choices you make in your running life. It’s a question we ask of every athlete before letting them race, because if racing does not have a “Why?” independent of comparison, it will eat you alive, eventually. Megan’s is the satisfaction of giving her all to a task. David’s is the motivation to push himself and stay the course over time. On the start line, we usually share a laugh and kiss. The training was the work to answer that question, the race is the celebration that the question is answered.

So maybe the goal isn’t to know your “Why?” at all. Instead, the goal is to think about your “Why?” Do that while lovingly embracing the process of a running life, and you might just stumble upon some principles that help you unconditionally accept yourself along the way.

If everyone is a teammate, you always win.

You can take your running seriously without taking yourself seriously.

That doesn’t mean you can’t view what you do seriously, though. Passion for the long-term process requires deeply caring. Just remember that while running (or any passion you have) is beautiful and meaningful, you are the same person who occasionally faceplants while jogging on a smooth sidewalk.

To put it in SWAP language, if you’re around an awesome “F#%& yes!” person, you improve. If you’re around an unenthusiastic “No” person, everyone suffers.

In life, you’ll fail and you’ll screw up no matter what you do. There is only one antidote to the virus of failure: persistent, resilient, stubborn belief.

It’s okay to care about running and own those dreams, but it’s always helpful to remember that at the end of the day, we are all here for the stories.

There is something powerful about feeling small. When you are small, it’s okay to mess up (as long as you have positive intentions and are not wielding nuclear codes). It’s okay to really go for it and believe in yourself.

For learning new behaviors, there are three interweaving techniques that work like a charm. We call those three techniques the 3 Rs—repetition, reinforcement, reflection.

First, a list of three positive affirmations about the type of person and runner you want to be, which you look at and think about each morning (chapter 1). Second, an outline of your long-term goals, dreaming your biggest and scariest dreams to motivate love of the daily process (chapter 1). Third, a four-point answer to the key “Why?” questions, laying out what drives you, then you stick to those answers even on days it’s not so easy (chapter 2). Finally, a checklist of the habits you want to build into character traits, and you repeat, reinforce, and reflect on those habits each day

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

His seven tips: think impermanence, let go of control, lean into it, know you’re not alone, exercise, practice self-compassion, and be patient.

The complexity of a running life can manifest itself in decreased motivation, injury, aging, poor performances, nipple chafing, or just about anything else. If your approach to running isn’t built on a solid philosophical foundation, it may crumble when you face adversity. Instead, you want to think like someone with lifelong faith, who elevates open-minded principles over strict dogma, who takes in all of the available information and comes to a place of belief and love, rather than disillusionment. All with no funny 1960s mushrooms needed! Thinking about your running can often be a slippery slope, though. If you read popular Internet forums, you’ll see that specific training approaches can become belief systems for some people. Belief is good, but it needs to be open-minded, especially in a field like training where multiple approaches work and knowledge evolves. It’s a good general life rule that if you think lots of other people are stupid, you may need to check your presuppositions about your own intelligence.

It all gets back to one of our big themes: Whenever you can, zoom out.

Take a chill pill and wash it down with some loose juice. That is the central premise of running training—easy, chill running now begets fast, fun running later.

The heart rate monitor brings in some objectivity to the love/hate game.