23 September 2009 ~ Comments

Smile

Ideas Running

Smile

There’s this guy. He’s super fast and I pass him on the West Side Highway. Usually he wears a red shirt. Frequently he’s very sweaty. And he always has a smile on his face. All. The. Time.

At first I thought, what is this guy happy about? I’ve got a cramp in my side, a blister on my left foot, and my legs feel like lead. Sure, it’s nice to be out here, but my running face usually says “Hey! I’m hardcore! This hurts and I’m gonna kick your butt!”. My game face, if you will. No smiling allowed.

Or so I thought…

I digress. Mr. Smiley runs past me again. Surprise surprise, his eyes sparkle and he smells like roses. Still confused, I decided to start smiling for the rest of my run too. I had to find out what he was so crazy about. What proceeded to happen was nothing less than a little brain chemistry, neuroscience, and stuff that Jonah Lehrer is more apt to explain. In my terms though:

a) Running immediately got easier, if not even more fun. I started going faster.

b) Became happier and more optimistic about my run. Felt as though I could go farther, longer, and faster.

c) My “game face” quickly went out the window. Smiling made me feel like a badass. It felt good running past people essentially saying “hey, I love this!”

d) Another way to motivate myself. Ever heard of the term “grin and bear it”? This is that phrase at it’s finest. Pain is pleasure and you might as well put a smile on for it.

What do you think about this? Do you smile while you run?

Try it next time as a little experiment: 10 minutes regular, then 10 minutes smiling. Repeat for your whole run. What happens?

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  • First of all, another great post. Second of all 20 minutes IS my whole run!
    Third of all, I agree completely and that is why I need my music when I run. It is hard to maintain a smile when you are bored and if I don't have a soundtrack to my run that's exactly what I am: bored. Bored then turns to impatience which turns to frustration, which turns to misery at still having to hear the pound pound pound of my feet on the ground ground ground.
    Music helps lift my mood and then I start daydreaming about being in a race, or chasing down bankrobbers or something more fun and exciting than simply plodding along. I try to put some silly song on halfway through my run just to make myself smile for the exact reasons you mentioned above. 80s music is great for that. It is hard to be miserable when you are listening to Wang Chung or Cyndi Lauper. Smiling = confidence. It is pretty easy to trick your brain if you just give it a shot. Great reminder, I will be smiling like a lunatic for my whole run tonight!
  • I agree George, sometimes I just get plain bored! Smiling mixes it up a bit and definitely changes some brain chemistry.
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