Are You Addicted to Running?

An old friend of mine from high school who has a suc­cess­ful psy­chi­a­try prac­tice in upstate New York recently pub­lished a blog post on addic­tion that got me think­ing… What is the tip­ping point at which some­thing is no longer a hobby, an inter­est, or even a way of life – but becomes an addiction?

Can one be addicted to running?

Dr. Fer­raioli points out in his post that addic­tions “…DISCONNECT us from our­selves and from our real lives; and that includes the peo­ple in our lives such as our chil­dren, our spouses, our friends, and our com­mu­ni­ties, among others.”

Many of us use run­ning to escape. For me, it’s a brief period in the day where I can clear my head and find respite from every­thing else that’s going on. And I think that’s a very healthy thing. Every­one needs time to “recen­ter” and many of us find that time running.

But can you take it too far?

As with any­thing else in life, the key to suc­cess is bal­ance. Ask your­self, does your run­ning strengthen your fam­ily rela­tion­ships or strain them? Is your fam­ily included in your run­ning goals, or does your run­ning make your fam­ily feel excluded? Does run­ning bring you closer to the ones you love, or does it dis­con­nect you?

If you find your­self on the wrong side of the bal­ance, now is the time to take action. Talk to your fam­ily. Include them. Lis­ten to them. Value them. And then take another look at your train­ing plan and make sure that it gives you the bal­ance you need. Unless you’re a pro­fes­sional ath­lete, it’s OK to cut back on your train­ing. It’s OK to not hit a PR every time. It’s OK to give your­self a break for the sake of your family.

My fam­ily has had a very busy sum­mer this year. I’ve been lucky to log two runs a week lately, and I’m happy with that.

I hope to run well into my old age, but I know that the day will come when I will no longer be able to run. My joints will be too old and my mus­cles too weak. I expect that when that day comes I will not regret a sin­gle missed run, failed train­ing plan, unshed pound, or can­celled race. Instead, I will cher­ish the extra time I got to spend with my fam­ily, and hope that we grew to be a stronger fam­ily because of it.

11 Comments

• 
  Lonnie September 2, 2010 at 10:25 am

  Great post. I can def. iden­tify with this arti­cle. It’s all about the Bal­ance and that bal­ance can cer­tainly be hard to find.

  In our fam­ily it’s a ques­tion of how much is too much as far as work­ing out goes. I am a recre­ational run­ner (20-​​30mi/​wk), bor­der­ing on being com­pet­i­tive in 5k and above races in my age group (20−29) and the clydes­dale cat­e­gories (over 200lbs) Just recently we’ve decided to try the plan of my running/​lifting dur­ing the week on my lunch hour and a bit longer run on Sun­day morning’s. If it’s out­side of those times and it fits, I may squeeze some­thing in, but the first pri­or­ity is fam­ily time/​activities.

  Great post. Glad you started fol­low­ing me on twit­ter (@LonnieRuns) and I saw this blog as a result of twitter.
  • 
    Evhen September 2, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    Thanks for the post, and I’m glad you found the blog! Sounds like you’re stay­ing focused on find­ing that bal­ance. Keep it up, and good luck with your running!
• 
  Anthony Ferraioli, M.D. September 1, 2010 at 9:12 pm

  Oh, and excuse all the typos; my edi­tor is asleep in bed with the lit­tle ones upstairs!
  • 
    Evhen September 1, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    No prob­lem. I fixed them for you (I think there were only two).
• 
  Anthony Ferraioli, M.D. September 1, 2010 at 8:56 pm

  Hi Evhen,
  Thanks so much for includ­ing my post in your blog.
  I’m so very impressed with your approach here on your site. It’s so impor­tant, once we com­mit our­selves to mar­ry­ing and hav­ing a fam­ily, that we never for­get that this becomes a major source of sus­te­nance for us, in addi­tion to our other pur­suits.
  Often, the great­est chal­lenges we face with the fam­i­lies we have cre­ated involve learn­ing to bal­ance what’s good for us as indi­vid­u­als or what WE want, ver­sus what the best thing is for us within the con­text of the fam­ily we’ve cho­sen to have.
  As you put it, and you said it quite well: It’s all about find­ing that bal­ance and estab­lish­ing clear lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion with your fam­ily. Get­ting the green light from them and some sup­port from them helps quite a bit.
  The fine line between what enhances our abil­ity to feel sus­tained and con­nected in our lives ver­sus what makes us fee dis­con­nected from our­selves and alien­ated from our lives is some­times hard to find; and some­times one can mas­quer­ade as the other.
  But there is often a pal­pa­ble dif­fer­ence in how we feel when we have par­tic­i­pated in activ­i­ties which enhance and sup­port our lives and that are in line with our lives and the peo­ple in it, as opposed to those which we use as an escape.
  One hint might be that if you have guilt or shame, there may be more to explore about how you’ve ordered your pri­or­i­ties, or about how you’ve com­mu­ni­cated them to your fam­ily.
  I applaud you and your read­ers for ask­ing such impor­tant, fun­da­men­tal ques­tions.
  Your fam­i­lies will reap the ben­e­fits, as will, ulti­mately, your love for run­ning.
  And remem­ber, there’s often no clear right or wrong for all of us, so each will have to exam­ine their own sit­u­a­tion and the feed­back they’re get­ting from their loved ones.
  All my best,
  Anthony
  (P.S. The name of your web­site is perfect!)
  • 
    Evhen September 1, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Thanks so much for your com­ment and for the addi­tional expla­na­tion! I’m glad you stopped by to visit the site and appre­ci­ate your feedback.
• 
  Roger August 31, 2010 at 10:37 pm

  This is a good post and is prob­a­bly just the tip of the prover­bial ice­berg. There are prob­a­bly a lot of other signs of a run­ning addic­tion as well. I think many of us prob­a­bly know run­ners, for exam­ple, that maybe run when they shouldn’t… or run when their doc­tor tells them to stop for a while.

  Some (many? most?) run­ners prob­a­bly also joke about how run­ning is cer­tainly an addic­tion and have plenty of mem­o­ra­bilia around to show for it. Can there be such a thing as a healthy addic­tion? Is there such a thing as an addic­tive per­son­al­ity? And if so, does such a per­son sim­ply need to pick their poi­son, so to speak?

  Thanks for posting!
  • 
    Evhen September 1, 2010 at 10:54 am

    Yes, I think there can be such a thing as a healthy addic­tion. It all depends on whether it has a neg­a­tive effect on oth­ers. Run­ning can be a healthy addic­tion — if it moti­vates you and oth­ers to stay fit and healthy and active. But if you take it to the point where you are hurt­ing and alien­at­ing those you love, then I think it becomes a bad addic­tion. Thanks for the com­ment! (and thanks for the link to your site — looks promising!)
• 
  Fitz August 31, 2010 at 10:16 pm

  Hhmmm… I’m not sure how I feel about the ques­tion, “Is your fam­ily included in your run­ning goals?” What do you mean by that? If your goal is a Boston Qual­i­fier, or Olymp­tic Tri­als qual­i­fier, or sim­ply run­ning your fastest in your next 5k, then how is that includ­ing your family?

  I guess it depends on if you think your fam­ily should be included in all of your run­ning goals. What does your wife have to do with your half-​​marathon goal? Or your Boston Qual­i­fy­ing goal? Nei­ther goal requires more than 1–2 hours per day — or in other words, a rea­son­able amount of time.

  - Fitz.
  • 
    Evhen September 1, 2010 at 11:01 am

    By includ­ing your fam­ily I don’t mean tak­ing them along on your train­ing runs. What I mean is includ­ing them in the deci­sions you make with respect to your run­ning goals and train­ing plans. Yes, the deci­sion to try to BQ is yours to make — but in mak­ing that deci­sion have you con­sid­ered what that com­mit­ment means to your fam­ily? Do you know what their indi­vid­ual goals and aspi­ra­tions might be that may be neg­a­tively affected (or even squashed) by your decision?

    By includ­ing your fam­ily, I mean open­ing the lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion and con­sid­er­ing their indi­vid­ual points of view. And by doing this, at times you’ll find that you might need to recon­sider, and at other times you’ll find that you have enthu­si­as­tic, ener­getic, and lov­ing sup­port­ers who will help get you through the rough patches as you work towards your goals.

    (By the way, I really like your blog and have added it to my reader)
    • 
      Fitz September 1, 2010 at 12:06 pm

      Good points and thanks for the response. I cer­tainly didn’t mean put your fam­ily 2^nd! It boils down to pri­or­i­ties and fam­ily should be #1. But if you have an ambi­tious run­ning goal, elim­i­nat­ing or reduc­ing your other pri­or­i­ties might be necessary.

      Thanks for lik­ing Strength Run­ning! Maybe we can work together on some­thing soon.