In 2023, I ran sixty races. Mostly 5K, 10K and my first 15K. It took me nearly a decade to get to call myself a runner. A reluctant, laggard runner. But a 60-races-a-year finisher nonetheless. Now that running is a habit, I’d like to share my (mis)adventures in running. I will post here, on @timbulwalks Instagram and on my Patreon (two euros/month gets your name on my next racing bib). Below are six main reasons for sticking to running as a form of self-discovery and a way to re-discover the world.
With my 60 race bibs and the 2023 Finisher shirt from the Valencia municipal circuit
Why Do I Run So Many Races?
1. Two words. Butts. Lycra.
2. It’s not the running itself (I am still ambivalent about it), it’s the great atmosphere of the starting line. First time I awaited the countdown among other runners, I thought… Is this what serotonin looks like?! Are these people on dopamine right now?! Even anxiety is positively charged at the start of a race.
3. It’s a community event. I run a lot in the pueblos outside the city and the support of folks along the route is truly humanity at its best. I never miss a chance to high-five a kid on the sideline or wave to someone on a balcony or yell gracias to an elder in a folding chair. Although, once I did smack a grandma upside the head having misjudged her grandkid’s high-fiving abilities on the fly.
4. It’s a way to re-discover my place in a place I live in. There is always a cute town square to see, an old bakery to try, a peculiar monument to check out, a local legend to hear, etc. I absorb the world around me through my running steps. Sometimes it’s a day trip or a mad dash on the metro or a chill bike ride. I run here therefore I live here therefore I am. Local is a verb.
5. It’s healing. As a survivor of childhood sexual trauma I spent most of my life disembodied. Running brings me back into my body and teaches me bodily autonomy. It rewires my brain to permit pleasure from excersing my physical agency. As an adult with ADHD, running provides a safer space for my wildfire circuitry: the playlist, the exertion, the people, the sights. I found peace halfway through a race.
6. I have never regretted a race. It’s as cloose to a win-win life balance as I’ve gotten thus far. I have regretted (granted, with very many shades of regret) most of my alcohol binges, hookups, people-pleasing commitments, compulsive purchases, etc. I am yet to go out for a run and think afterwards “well, that was a waste of time, money, and emotional investment”. I mean, the lycra-butts alone… 🙂
How It Started
I posted fresh running shoes in the summer of 2014. It would take me two years to get to my first 5K. And then, another 3 years to get to my second 5K 🙂 If progress, not perfection were a shoe brand, I’d be their go-to influencer!
How’s It Going
It so happens that Spain is where I ran my first 5K, my first 10K and my first 15K. “Naturally,” I am now curious about the next official distance: 21K or a half marathon. Luckily, Valencian region is home to the world’s first half marathon! Elche: La Más Antigua. I have registered to run it on Sunday, March 10, 2024. I am excited and nervous and will be documenting my thrill and anxiety on @timbulwalks and Patreon.
Alexey Timbul 