When it comes to facing addiction, focusing on getting addicted to something healthy can be key.
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On March 26th, I will be celebrating my two year running anniversary. I will, of course, celebrate this milestone with a six mile run around my rural New Jersey neighborhood.
My wife and I rent an old farmhouse in a section of western Jersey that defies stereotype. Honestly, where I live, it looks like a piece of Iowa was carved out and slapped right in the middle of a vast kingdom of suburban sprawl. It is a beautiful setting to run in. The view (rambling fields of corn, wheat, and soybean along with mountain ranges and plenty of sky) more than relaxes my senses.
So why do I run? I run because running is a habit of mine. It certainly beats my previous habit for relaxation: a rather serious nicotine addiction.
When I was fifteen years old, I made the conscious decision to begin smoking cigarettes. I remember muscling through lung-scorching discomfort to develop this habit. As odd is it may sound, this memory was what really fueled the running habit I developed two years ago.
The first two weeks of running were hell and required much the same level of commitment, discomfort, and focus that smoking did. Again, I know that may sound strange, but two years ago I saw running as a restorative action to the deteriorative activity of smoking. I quit smoking when I was twenty-five, but it took me ten years to muster the courage to forge a path to a truly healthy lifestyle. Running had to be part of this new way of living.
In a lot of ways, I run to live. Yeah, it’s a habit, but–and I’m not sure how scientific this is–I figure that every mile I run is one less cigarette smoked. I run because I want to reverse the damage I did years ago. Those first few weeks of getting my body used to running definitely revealed the damage done by the nicotine habit that accompanied me throughout high school and college. Over the past two years, my lungs have become stronger, my runs longer, and my body faster. What was once a five minute dash and then twenty minutes of walking is now a consistent ten minute mile and an hour of feet slapping pavement. Two years ago, I couldn’t run without stopping.
Now I simply cannot stop running. I run because it’s my habit. It’s the best habit I’ve ever had.
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