Just Another Runner’s Perspective September 2026 By Gale Fischer
It May Be Different, But It Still Feels The Same
“Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running.”
—Julie Isphording
Life is an ongoing cycle of moving forward. Changes are continuous, but there are also constants in life. We all move through different seasons of life, including toddler, school-age, teenage, young adult, middle age, and elderly. Each stage brings with it shifts in social interests, daily routines, individual preferences, and personal attitudes. Even with these changes, there remains consistency in our lives spanning a long period of time. Through the ebbs and flows of life, we all experience change while also walking a path of routine.
Running is a metaphor for life in many ways. Patterns that are noticeable in our sport are similar to the patterns we experience in all areas of our lives. In many ways, running can offer us a mixture of sensory input. In fact, variety is part of what keeps running fresh and exciting, and an activity that many choose to engage in for multiple decades.
Living in the Midwest and experiencing running through the variation of each of the four seasons can add excitement when running might begin to feel monotonous. Enjoying the comfortable temperatures of spring and fall is always something to appreciate as a runner, but the heat of the summer and the winter cold can help to break one out of a running rut or keep the running rut from ever occurring. Each season bestows its own variety of beauty for the runner, from the breathtaking lush green colors of spring and summer, to the stunning orange and yellow hues of fall, and the pristine white canopy of winter.
Running variety can also occur in different types of workouts. Long, slow runs, fast-paced track workouts, easy recovery runs, and mid-distance tempo runs all create different sensations. The experiences of running diverse terrain, such as around a track, on a wooded trail, along a hilly country road, and through a busy city neighborhood, can each provide a different type of sensory excitement. The phases that each of us goes through in our running journey provide changes in what running can offer. The fast runner may one day slog through each run as the accumulated miles over the years alter what the body is capable of, or the speedy high school sprinter may one day transition to a middle-aged ultra runner running many more miles at a slower pace.
My personal running journey has spanned almost three decades. Through those years, my running has gone through many adjustments. I started running solo for more than a year, but eventually I found the running community. Since then, there have been periods of time in which the bulk of my miles has been with others and other periods of time when running alone has dominated my weekly mileage. Running solo can offer a different set of inputs than running with others. I have also adjusted the volume of miles I run. For many years, my running was uninterrupted, but for the last ten to fifteen years, injury has decreased the consistency of how often I can run. When I started running, I wasn’t so much concerned with pace. Eventually, speed became a part of my running, and I went through a period of time where competing in races dominated my focus. Eventually, my speed decreased, and so did the desire to compete. As different as each phase of my running has been, and with the variety I have intentionally targeted through the years of running, there are elements of my sport that are common to each and every run I have logged over the last thirty years. I will always feel grateful for the excitement of my running prime and the rush that came with it. Although three-hour marathons, eighteen-minute 5ks, and twenty-mile Saturday morning long runs may seem like running experiences from another lifetime, the mental rush that comes from every run remains a common feeling.
For me, when running, there is always a sense of balance in how my mental, physical, and emotional realms work together in harmony, no matter the pace, distance, or sensory stimulus of where and when I run. The physical effects of running, including a raised heart rate, heavier breathing, and perspiration soaking my skin, seem to sync my mind and body. Running always seems to create an emotional high while also calming my nerves and giving me peace of mind. Running always gives me a sense of appreciation while enhancing all aspects of my life. No matter how much I struggle during a run, running continually brings me joy, and the sense of accomplishment is always there when the run is complete. Running always boosts my mood. There are many ways in which each run provides a unique memory or experience while also providing the same stable, familiar input. Whatever this experience happens to be, life is better with each run.
Until next time, this has been just another runner’s perspective.