I Love Running

My wife has been kind of obsessed with this website called Lists of Note. It's a site of lists, mostly lists from famous people. My wife will occasionally send me the good ones. My two favorite lists so far are Sid Vicious' list of What Makes Nancy So Great (it's sweet, romantic, and crude so don't click unless you're into that), and F. Scott Fitzgerald's list of things to worry about, not worry about, and things to think about.

In honor of Valentine's Day, and in a desire to embrace my cheesiness, I decided to make a list of why I love running. Here's my list:

• I love the peaks and appreciate the valleys because that is where the growth happens. Flat roads are boring.
• Bad weather makes a muddy playground.
• That dead feeling at the top of a long climb, and the satisfaction of looking back at where you came from, where your body brought you.
• I love that I have never regretted a day on the trails.
• Everything about finish lines.
• That nervous energy at the start of a trail race, the jokes and the conversations.
• Running downhill with abandon.
• Pushing around a corner, leaning into it and feeling the side of your shoe dig into the dirt.
• Jumping over rocks, fallen trees, and sticks that may or may not be snakes.
• Meeting new people and knowing that we already share a strong bond.

Don't like my list, or want to add to it? I'd love to read why you love running in the comments below. Happy Valentine's Day.

Here's some trail goodness:

With my wife, and looking like I just picked up a hitchhiker

My daughter catching air on a local trail

Noble Canyon 50K

SD100 in the Laguna Mountains

Grand Canyon

Mt. Laguna

And on a completely unrelated, non-running note, here is another list. I wrote this one for my son, and I don't know what to call it. How to be a man sounds too pretentious, so I'm just calling it advice from your dad:

If you decide to jump into something, don't step lightly. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and fly.

Don't be cautious with your heart. Don't protect it, but if someone gives you theirs, treat it like it's the greatest treasure in the world. It is.

It's usually better to walk away, but if you have to fight, keep your eyes open, your breath slow, and punch straight.

Don't be afraid of being alone or the silence, because this is when you learn about you.

Look everyone in the eyes.

Be free with compliments.

Be kind to everyone, especially to those from whom you have nothing to gain.

Ask for directions.

Don't talk a lot and when you do, use simple words.

Read a lot. Read books with pages. Not the kind on a screen.

Get attached to people even though they will leave.

Be content to hold hands and kiss cheeks. This is the sweetest and purest love.

Use manners more than you think necessary. Open doors, be the last person through, and give your seat up. Say excuse me, please, and thank you.

Ask for advice and opinions, but after all that, trust your gut. It's right.