MAYES: Battling stress by becoming a ‘person who runs’

Published 8:00 am Saturday, August 3, 2024

I’ll level with you.

The newspaper business is often a stressful job.

Well, maybe “often” is underselling it a little.

It’s usually a stressful job.

I’m not complaining. It’s what I signed up for. As stressful as the “never know what’s going to happen today” schedule and the high-speed race with to beat the print deadline after Friday night football games can be, they also provide the daily satisfaction of being able to turn in a product that you know you put all of your effort into and have it go out to deserving readers.

But, even though it’s a stress I accept, it’s still a stress that needs to be mitigated.

There are a few ways I try to unwind from stressful days. I read books, I watch TV and movies and, lately, a lot of my free time has gone into playing the new college football video game that released last month (Go Jax State Gamecocks).

But, one year ago Thursday, I rediscovered an old stress release that I’m happy to say has been a great help for me both mentally and physically over the last 12 months.

On Aug. 1, 2023, I went to the park and went for a jog.

It wasn’t exactly unheard of for me. I played (rode the bench) for my high school basketball team, and I did the requisite conditioning and practice time to stay in shape then. In college, after gaining the much-dreaded “freshman 15” pounds, I got into running off and on and played some intramural basketball to stay active.

After college, as the realities of full-time employment began to sap my time and energy, the time spent on the trail quickly diminished. There were the occasional New Year’s resolutions that lasted a few days of running, or the odd week or so that I’d coax myself out of the comforts of air conditioning to run for a few minutes a day, but the active time was dwarfed several times over by the time I spent saying “ah, I’ll start tomorrow.”

Last August, I convinced myself to begin one of those tomorrows.

This time, it finally stuck.

It was a struggle at first, as I would slow to a walk after maybe a half of a mile of a light jog. But I kept at it, built up my long-underutilized leg strength and lung capacity, and, a year later, here we are.

For the longest sustained period of my life — a year, and, now, counting — I haven’t gone more than a week without dragging myself out of bed to go for a run at least once or twice a week.

I’ll credit the abundance of great parks in our community, both in the city of Dalton and in the county, for providing several great spots to run. I usually mix in several different local places so no once location gets too stale or repetitive as a backdrop. The Mill Line Trail, which opened earlier this year and is maintained by the city, has become a favorite because the lengthy amount of trail it offers keeps me going longer without having to make so many laps of the same terrain. I’m more of a flat, paved track kind of runner than a true trail runner (I’m barely coordinated enough to keep myself upright on a flat track, so dodging tree roots is a no-go), but there are also several “off-road” trails for use in the area too.

I don’t know that I’d consider myself a “runner” — I’ve never been a great athlete and I don’t run very fast at a sprint or a jog — but, maybe “person who runs” is now appropriate.

I’ve gone from barely able to jog half of a mile to reliably being able to jog eight to 10 miles without slowing. I tried a half marathon once after clearing 10 miles a few times and clearly wasn’t actually ready, but we’ll get there. I technically completed it, but there was definitely some walking, huffing and puffing in there. I’m as light as I’ve been since college, and I feel much better physically too.

But, even though the physical benefits have been a nice bonus, the real reason that I have learned to enjoy going for runs is for the mental benefits.

When starting out, I joked “You can’t think about mental pain when you’re in so much physical pain.”

Morbid perhaps, but not untrue, at least at the start. The stress that was plaguing me would melt away as the pain shooting through my knees or my cramping back or my oxygen-starved lungs would drive all other things out of my brain.

Now that my body is a little more used to doing more activity than walking through the grocery store to the frozen foods aisle, running isn’t a painful experience, but still a space for me to forget about my other stresses for a while. Now that I can actually go, you know, more than a couple of minutes at a time, it’s an hour-plus of nothing but me, the trail under my feet and whatever music or podcast I have playing in my ear.

For a brain that struggles to feel at peace in even the best of conditions, running works wonders for, ironically, slowing the racing thoughts.

Who knew that if my body went fast, my brain would go slow?

I’ll always be a strong proponent of finding ways to improve your mental health. Running won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but find that thing that helps you “get away from it all” for a little bit.

I don’t really have ambitions of becoming a marathoner one day or the ability to compete for low time at races, but I’m glad running has been in my life for a solid year now.

As of Friday morning’s run (yes, I went for a run to clear my head before writing this column), I’ve run 557 miles in the slightly more than a year since I rediscovered that old stress release. The total was building slowly for the first few months as I got used to it, but the miles start to melt away as it becomes routine. Hopefully, now that it’s become a habit, I can keep going.

The stress certainly isn’t going to stop, so I can’t either.

In the profound, slightly modified words of Scottish musician duo the Proclaimers, “I would (jog) 500 miles, and I would (jog) 500 more.”

Daniel Mayes is the editor of the Dalton Daily Citizen. Write to him at danielmayes@daltoncitizen.com.