Running Wellness - What is your Wellness Running PR?

Running Wellness

What is your Running Wellness Personal Record?

Hello Friends!

As runners, we have all thought about our Personal Records (PRs) at some point or another. A personal record is the fastest time you have ever run at a particular distance. It sounds simple, but us runners make it slightly more complicated (PR on a certified course, indoor PR, outdoor PR, road PR, cross country PR, age adjusted PR and many more…)

Here at the Sisu Project we love a good PR. Many of our members run a PR the first time they wear the jersey! While running PRs is great, it is not the most important thing to your running. More important to running your best time is:

Running Wellness
Also known as Running A Wellness, Wellness Running, Wellness Run

What is running wellness? Running wellness is a term I just made up by combining two of the best words ever; running and wellness. Running wellness can be used as a verb as in:
I was out on the trails running wellness today, everything clicked and I felt completely connected to my surroundings. I was overcome with feelings of joy and relaxation.

Running wellness can also be used as a noun as in: Yesterday at the race I ran a running wellness. It was the best I’ve ever felt at a race and I ran my running wellness PR.

The great thing about wellness running PRs is they usually lead to time PRs, whereas time PRs do not always lead to wellness running PRs.

You can apply the term running wellness any way you want. There are no rules here.

Ok…but what does running wellness mean?
Running wellness means (to me):

You had the greatest run ever and feel every cell in your body pulsing with Prana (see post below for explanation on Prana, also known as Chi)

You have a healthy mind, body and spirit.

You are not injured and do not feel pain.

You have high energy levels that last consistently throughout the day.

Your running is a practice that improves several aspects of your life including but not limited to: focus, mental clarity, relaxation, alignment, cooperating with a force, core strength (see ChiRunning for more detail.) Now THAT is wellness running!

Some things about wellness running are measurable (heart rate, blood pressure etc)
Some things about wellness running are not as measurable (emotions)

A wellness run might be a run that wasn’t your longest or fastest but that left you feeling less stressed, more focused, more relaxed, and filled with joy.
Those are just a few examples of what running wellness means to me. What does wellness running mean to you?

Think back throughout your running. When did you run your wellness running PR? When did you feel at your absolute best physically, mentally, and emotionally? If the answer is not “right now!” what can you do to run a new running wellness PR? What steps can you take to get back to, or experience for the first time the joy and vibrant health that running can bring to you?