Welcome to the first edition of That Sounds Fun, a newsletter exploring the creative side of running

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To start, let me tell you what I mean by the creative side of running.

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While reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic, it hit me: running is my form of creative expression.

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Here's what she says about creative living:

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"When I talk about 'creative living' here, please understand that I am not necessarily talking about pursuing a life that is professionally or exclusively devoted to the arts. I'm not saying that you must become a poet who lives on a mountaintop in Greece, or that you must perform at Carnegie Hall...I'm talking about living a life that is driven more strongly than curiosity than by fear." - Elizabeth Gilbert

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For me, running is where I play. It’s a place I experiment.

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It’s an activity that feels expansive and infinite in the possibilities for exploration.

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I’ve been a competitive athlete my whole life, but I’ve never had as much fun training and competing as I do when I'm running.

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As a competitive swimmer throughout high school and college, swimming was about discipline. It was about goal setting, following rules, withstanding pain, and never missing a practice. I had plenty of fun, sure, but I'd never say I felt creative.

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Running feels totally different.

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Maybe it's because, as an adult I'm able to define the container of running to fit my life — I'm not following a well-trodden path of collegiate runners.

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Maybe it's because there are so many ways to be a runner. I choose to chase marathons, but you can be a runner who never competes, or a runner exploring your first 5k, or a professional runner, or a trail runner.

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And maybe it's because of the social aspect. Swimming used to be so lonely, laps and laps with your head under water, not being able to talk to anyone for hours. Now, I get to talk with friends for 3 hours as we tackle a 20-miler on a weekend.

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Plus, being part of a running team makes me feel like I'm 10 years old again in the best way — last week we ran up and down a ramp in the park for "hill work", laughing and trying not to run into people as we completed the workout.

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Anything that brings me back to that freedom of kid-like play feels pretty creative.

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My running this week

This is the section where I tell you something about my running this week.

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I run with a team in Buenos Aires called Locos por Correr (crazy about running).
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Our coach, Lucho, is also one of the top running journalists in Argentina, and has a radio show that reaches thousands of listeners across Latin America every week.

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Lucho travelled to Europe for a month in December to run the Valencia marathon. Now that he’s back, there’s a renewed energy in our team.

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We’re deep in the pretemporada, the preseason, which mostly means running a lot of hills and doing strength work.

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What I love about hills: it forces us to completely forget about pace and just run.

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Someone else's running this week

And this is the section where I tell you about someone else interesting in running news.

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All of last year, pro runner Steph Bruce told the world she was retiring. She even gave her final year in professional running a name: The Grit Finale.

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She made Grit Finale T-shirts! And chronicled her final year on Instagram. Everyone knew she was retiring.

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And then, after her final marathon, after the final party, after all of the celebration and ceremony of her final year as a pro runner…

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…she decided she didn’t want to retire.

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As someone who has done many things “just because I told people I was going to,” Steph’s story felt deeply encouraging.

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You're allowed to change your mind.

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Something fun and inspiring

And finally, this is the section where I share something fun, interesting, or encouraging for you to check out in your running or sports pursuits.

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I listen to a lot of running podcasts, but the best one this week was on Ali on the Run, where Ali, the host, interviews Ellie Kemper, better known as Erin from “The Office.”

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Ellie ran the New York Marathon as her first marathon this year, and her perspective is both hilarious and heartwarming.

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The episode made me laugh out loud. In the middle of the sidewalk. People stared.

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That's it! I hope you have a lovely weekend.

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See you next Friday!

-Annie

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