still running

In college I realized I would never be as fast, as strong or as mentally disciplined as some of my friends were. I worked out in the gym often, and saw people who started with me woring with twice the wiegth they did in 3 months, while I was stuck where I started. So it was with great delight that I found something that I could consider myself to be good at, I was okay at soccer but most of memorable moments were accidents, not related to skill. I got lucky and everyone thought it was skill. I was on the IIT soccer team because I got lucky during the tryouts. Running has been my main sport for a long time. Running is different, I can force my body to listen to my mind when I run. I can tell my body to run faster now, slower now, climb now and stop now. I can see improvements in my workout after 2 weeks. I know all sports are a form of competition but running is something where I only compete with myself. The only reall oponent is the stop watch and if you hit the runners high, even time doesn't matter because you start to enjoy the action of running for action itself. It truly is an amazing feeling, I discovered that I can force a runners high on myself when I've run for about 2 miles, I can think of certain thoughts and then I feel a kind of euphoria wash over my brain, it's like waves of adrenaline are passing over my brain. When I hit that moment in my run I feel like I can run forever at whatever pace I choose. It lasts about 45 seconds to a minute, but in that minute I can really turn up the pace. The thoughts that trigger it can stem from almost anything, Usually though they are motivating thoughts, so I would encourage anyone who wants to experience it to get to that 2nd mile and to think of the most powerful motivational thought that you can imagine . I don't know if it would work or anyone else but I know it works for me.While I was going to the gym in Riyadh I started having pains in the area behind my knee. The pain became persistant to the point that I couldn't walk straight after a run anymore. I was depressed since I couldn't figure out if this was a permanent injury or something temporary, I couldn't find anything online about it and started wondering if this injury would stop me from running permanently. Then the really depressing thoughts started to hit me, what if I couldn't play soccer or basketball any more? Granted there is alot more to life than sports but it has been a major part of my life till now. As it turend out all of that was for nothing, I ran about 5km, a bit over 3 miles, in 30 minutes yesterday. Not the fastest I have been but just a couple of months ago I wasn't sure if I would run again I was elated and just thought I would share this.