James Hsu

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Last week, I wrote about my first marathon. Looking back on it, though, I missed one crucial piece of the puzzle:

Why am I running long distances?

And why am I running longer than ever in 2023, with October being my highest mileage month of all time?

I wrote a piece some years ago about why I enjoy running in general. But it’s missing the reasons for my recent “comeback.”

So let me tell you — and in the process, hold myself accountable for writing weekly again.

Reason #1 – running as the ultimate de-stressor

I won’t go into details, but I’ve been stressed this year, work-wise. It’s not entirely negative stress. I think there’s some growth to go along with the stress.

But suffice to say, long periods of time sitting in the office, coupled with minimal exercise, had been wearing on me. It was right around June, in the midst of a Shanghai heat wave, that I decided to get back to running.

With my schedule it’s difficult to run during weekday mornings. But I found a sweet spot of getting back home around 6:30pm, changing, running for an hour, and then eating dinner afterwards.

I would run 8 to 10 kilometers, nothing crazy, keeping it within an hour or so. But running had the effect of relaxing me and lowering overall stress levels.

I’m not the kind of person who can do a ton of thinking while logging miles. Instead, I listen to music and focus on my breathing.

Running in extreme heat was therapeutic. I am deathly afraid of heat; I barely want to move when it gets above 25 degrees Celsius. But I forced myself to gut out these hot-ass runs, because I always felt better afterwards. Every single time.

Plus, I sweat like a mofo. The running had the additional effect of letting me cut weight AND suppress my appetite for dinner. All I wanted to do after a run was drink fluids.

Pacing was straightforward; pacing was cautionary. I’d been injured before. Even fainted once a few years ago from pushing myself too hard — thankfully, the cardiac tests came back normal.

Since then, I’ve been super conscious of not going over the edge. As I age, I draw safer boundaries around me.

Reason #2 – running as a healthy challenge

I’m not a natural-born runner. I struggled, as an overweight teenager, to run 6 laps around the track. I was a consistent C+ student in P.E. class.

I see folks bragging about their sub-3-hour marathons. I know, deep down inside, that I’m never going to achieve that without significant risk and hurt to myself. I’m just not born that way.

And that’s totally fine. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. My strength is to be the tortoise; to run really damn slow, but to outlast.

In recent years, I’ve enjoyed longer runs, typically between 16 to 25 kilometers. And I’ve really leaned into this concept this year.

Again, I can’t really contemplate too much when I run. Just one foot in front of the other. But it’s enough for me. And it makes me happy.

I used to allow for days off between runs. Now my legs feel pretty good on back-to-backs. I don’t abuse this privilege, but I know that I’ve gotten stronger. The key is to make running a consistent habit without a major setback, i.e. injury.

Not gonna lie, it’s a real ego booster to be a stronger, more consistent runner in my early forties than I ever was in my thirties.

I don’t want to settle into the identity of a “runner” — identity traps are devastating if one day, god forbid, I can no longer run — but running is something that I can currently do.

And so I prefer it to just about every other form of exercise.

Reason #3 – running to destroy self-doubt

James, you can’t run a marathon.

James, you can’t run 200 kilometers in a month.

James, you can’t do these things unless you hurt yourself.

WATCH ME.

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I send out a weekly newsletter of whatever’s on my mind. Subscribe here.

I also conduct interviews with cool people. Check it out here.