A wanderlust runner

I was born with a Wanderlust soul, but after having my first child at 21 I was never able to really satisfy that urge and it's always been a struggle that I've had to deal with. The insatiable desire to explore more, to experience more, to BE more.

That's why I decided to become a runner.

I think a lot about what it means to have what I like to call "a ragin case of wanderlust". Wanderlust to me is a feeling that makes my heart want to burst through the air that I breath and experiences that I have, and the sky.

Running has accomplished this, at least for now, for me. I think back on all of the runs that I have had. The nights that I have spent doing speed work in the darkness and stillness around me, with my heart beat strong and my breath heavy and hard. My music loud enough to shake my soul, but deaf to the world around me.

I think about all the times I've woken up with the after midnight shows still playing on the radio, after a night of sleepless mother hood, to log a few loops to the sun rising with friends. To spend the hours I should have been sleeping once I finally got my babies to sleep, but instead sharing laughs and smiles and venting and miles that I hold dear to my heart.

I think about the times I woke up too hungover for my own good, but dove deep into the trails on a warm summer morning to sweat out the woes and worries of the night before. A better cure for a hangover then any Tylenol or greasy breakfast could ever be. I call them whisky river miles.

And I remember all the times where I just couldn't piece together the past in my mind, so the only thing that made sense to me was to hit the pavement, one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. I remember all of the hills that I took to in sadness, and all of the miles I logged in fear, and all of the times I stopped running to just cry... and all the times I let myself do so; and then finished my run.

I have learned over my years of running that while I was longing for more. constantly living with wanderlust, that I was living the fullest life that I could have right now. As a runner my heart was bursting through the air that I breath and the experiences that I have on a daily basis. I wasn't constantly longing for the vacation or the night out to create my memories anymore, but I was living with them in the most habitual thing in my life.  My wanderlust for running.