Running with a Frown

Perhaps I am running with a frown, but my heart is happy.

Can I just tell you how much I cringe every time I read an article or listen to a podcast by some fitness guru who says, “Ladies, just stop with all the running! I mean, I’m always driving by ladies who are running with a frown. They look so sad because they hate what they are doing.” The conversation then always moves to how “if you don’t enjoy running, then stop it, because it’s not helping you lose weight or get that perfect body.”

Running with a Frown

This condescending tone must stop.

It’s frustrating. It’s annoying, and quite honestly it’s false.

On Saturday morning, I hit the road for an 11+ mile run. It was my best run yet, and during the long run, I listened to two podcasts (Chris Kresser + Fizzle) and random music here and there.  

I smiled just one time during the run, and that was when I ran past another runner who waved to me. This is because I don’t smile when I run, but it’s not because I’m miserable, sad, or pondering thoughts around, “Will this run get me the perfect body?” 

No, it’s because I am focused….on the run, breathing, foot placement, and many other things like my thoughts and a variation of deep meditation. Oftentimes the same is true when I’m walking, lifting, and doing every other type of workouts I enjoy. I’m not one to smile when I workout. I never have been, and I never will be.  

But I am happy. On the inside, I beam. If I wasn’t, I would not be doing it, and would not have the drive to hit the road, consistently these days, for 10+ miles. (Because there was a time when I hated running.)

Almost three years ago, I wrote this post called, “Never Judge the Face {By a Frown or Frown-Upside-Down}.” It could not ring truer today.

Do you know how many times I (and you, too, likely) smile and it’s fake? Smiling is an act, and not all acts are genuine. I know this from my life’s experiences, all of them. But I also know it because each time I go to Bikram Yoga they say, “….healthy head, open heart, and a smile on your face.” 

I smile in those moments, to appease the teacher and everyone around me. Rarely am I actually happy. I know I should, but I just do not truly enjoy or appreciate yoga. My smile is fake, and only from an outsider’s perspective, am I happy and loving yoga.

The running community is really amazing, and yet for those not in it, I always feel like I’m defending running with a frown because “surely it’s something no one could truly enjoy.”

I don’t run to achieve some sort of body, and I think we need to stop inferring to women that there is a direct correlation between smiling and going after that “perfect body.” 

There isn’t.

That’s not real.

What is real? Keeping to your own lane, not judging another lane, understanding that looks can be deceiving and that running with a frown might be the happiest thing you see all day.

p.s. I’ll hopefully share my recent workouts via the Running category soon. I started running less, making them count more, and sprinkling in other things. It’s really paying off, I think!

Xox,
SKH