Unleash the Wild Things!

On Friday night I decided to bring one of my favorite childhood books to life by going to the movie "Where the Wild Things Are." The main character Max is, to be quite honest, somewhat psychotic and out of control; he is so wild that he makes even the "wild things" seem tame once he gets to their remote island. I walked out of the movie thinking that kid needed some major attention, otherwise he would be a complete wackjob by the time he made it to high school.

Flash forward to the next day when I was exuberant that Garrett was in town for some quality boyfriend/girlfriend time. In the middle of washing the dishes, I would let out wild screams, cat calls, or meows. Random bursts of excitement would echo out through my strange sound effects, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After I did these things that Garrett barely even noticed (this is a common practice for me, so it no longer seems strange to him when I cry out random sayings to nobody in particular), I realized that I was acting a bit like Max. Max loves to run around wildly, flailing his arms, and without notice to his surroundings.

The main reason I bring this up, is that despite the fact that "Where the Wild Things Are" is meant to show that sometimes being a family is hard, a completely opposite meaning resonates with me instead. My take-away from the movie is quite simple: you should let yourself be goofy sometimes.

With this main message resonating through my head, I could not stop thinking about running. Think about it...Aren't most of the runners you know a bit on the quirky side? Most of us have one distinguishing feature when we let our "wild side" come out. Take, for instance, some of the antics of our very own from the Charlotte Running Club. Aaron Linz lets out a tribal scream accompanied with a clap of the hands after almost every repition during workouts, even if he is feeling like absolute crap. This definitely keeps my spirits upbeat if my legs feel like garbage. On the other hand, Jay Holder likes to make a noise with his lips when he is either confused or surprised that sounds much like "bluh-blub-blub-blub." Matt Jaskot wears hand-me-down soccer shorts from his co-worker's eleven year old son...and the list could go on and on...What are your quirky ways???

In many ways, I believe that this wild side needs to be released every so often in order to keep life sane and also exciting. Wandering through the house, I'll break into a dead sprint and stop abruptly before I hit the fridge. This is me letting go of all social conventions, letting my soul out to fly openly and freely, shining in its brilliance. The same thing happens for me while running.

Although I am very biased, runners quite possibly could be the best at letting themselves act freely and without thought. After all, once we get into a running rhythm, our legs and arms flow freely without thought for hours every week as we mechinically go through the movements to create stride after stride. This is the true characteristic that runners eventually possess after running for years, no matter what your pace may be. For this, we should all rejoice in the spirit that we know how to let loose and just live life.

Feel free to share some of your strange antics!!!