How beautifully difficult, and therefore true.

Do you want to know what I love about running? Life. Running makes me appreciate life far more than I did before I became a runner. Running has a way of subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, reminding me that I am very fortunate. My life is easy. Have I faced my share of challenges? Sure! Haven't we all? Running just reminds me that those challenges, those hardships, those feelings of despair when you've experienced something awful, are all temporary.

I can be a bit of a pessimist. I am also a bit of a whiner. When I'm running, I sometimes complain, whine, or even get angry about how difficult things seem at the time, but I try to remind myself that I should be thankful. There are so many people who cannot run. There are people living their lives in fear and defining themselves by the standards of others. There are women living in oppressive societies. There are entire countries devastated by poverty, war, and famine.

My life is easy. My life is blessed. My life is beautiful. Running is hard. Running feels hard. Running is beautiful, and running is easy. Wait? How can running be hard and easy? Well, it is a challenge. A challenge that I readily invite into my life. It's hard because it pushes me to evaluate my motivation, dedication, and confidence, which makes it easy because that helps me to become a better version of myself. The biggest key to running is that it only feels hard. Hard is relative. When I think that running feels hard, I try to think about how easy my life really is and how I can often be ungrateful for the easy, blessed, fortunate, beautiful life that I have. It really helps to put things in perspective.

That is what my new running tattoo represents to me. I got it on my wrist to see while I am running to remind me that I need to love. I need to live. I need to run. In order to put my life in perspective, in order to live fully, and in order to fully love all that I have been blessed with, I need to run.

If you really want inspiration, watch this awesome Boston Marathon tribute video.

How wonderful, how sane, how beautifully difficult, and therefore true.-- Salinger