Ben Sangree

10 years ago, I went for a run.

I got home, and in some post run daze of inspiration, I opened up a Google sheet, titled it “Ben Runs”, entered the date (Aug 25, 2012), how far I had run (3.26 miles), and noted “wow it’s hot out”. Earlier today I went for a run, got home, opened up Ben Runs, entered the date (Aug 25, 2022), how far I ran (5 miles), noted “Presidio loop, felt good”.

For the past 10 years every time I step back in the door, after taking off my shoes and grabbing water, I sit down and open up Google Sheets to update Ben Runs quickly with date, route, and any special notes (sometimes detailed notes or thoughts, though lots of “great!”, “fine”, “ugh”, “I want pizza” etc).

I noticed the other day this upcoming Ben Runs anniversary, and was inspired to do some quick spreadsheet formatting, calculations, and graphs.

In the past 10 years, I’ve been on 1,204 runs, totaling 5,356 miles.

As the data might suggest, I do in fact like to run. However as I sat with this spreadsheet the past few days, I starting thinking about how, maybe more than the actual activity itself, I love how running fits into my life. I love the things around running.

Being on a run can feel great, good, not so good, and sometimes painful. I’ve always been, and (best case) will always be a middle of the pack runner. But that’s not the point. It’s everything else about running that I love.

I love running because:

Food 🍕

One of my favorite things about running is food.

I eat to run and run to eat. In a nourishing positive feedback loop, I love fueling up before for a run and refueling after a run. The night before a long run I’ll eat a big meal, try to get a good nights sleep, wake up with coffee and oatmeal and off I go. On my run I think about what I’m going to eat afterwards and after I get home and shower, I go eat. If I’ve run over 7-8 miles I take it as basically free rein to eat anything I want for the rest of the day. And everything tastes better.

When I’m running a significant amount, I am very aware of the food I’m eating and how it makes me feel. I’m not currently nor have I really ever focused on losing weight. Rather I think of the quality of my runs as a function of the quality of food I’m eating. I want to feel good running, therefore I try to eat mostly good food most of the time.

Music 🎧

I love running to music.

Running is my absolute favorite time to listen to music. It’s a block of time several times per week I use to check out new stuff or (more often) revisit old favorites. I can run to almost any type of music - slower more ambient music can sound just as great as uptempo jams with beats and drops. A swelling chorus, a droney texture, a surprising song transition, a kick ass guitar solo, a thumping baseline can all kick runner’s high to another level.

Albums and shows such as Sound of Silver, Abbey Road, Stankonia, Turn on the Bright Lights, Phish Denver 97, Jamie XX Boiler Room and many many many others have soundtracked countless miles. I’ll dip in and out of podcasts or audiobooks to pass the miles, and plenty of headphone-less zen runs, but it’s music that keeps me running happy.

Exploring 🌎

Running is my favorite way to explore a place.