What a Myth Teaches Us about Happiness

Happy Runners What can a myth teach us about happiness as endurance runners and walkers?

I just read an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal about the myth of a stagnant middle class in America.

The authors wrote, “The average hourly wage in real dollars has remained largely unchanged from at least 1964…”

But, they went on to point out some problems with this measurement of wages.

The Consumer Price Index overestimates inflation by ignoring quality improvements.
The measurement ignores fringe benefits.
The costs of modern “basics” have fallen dramatically.

What does any of this have to do with your happiness as an endurance runner or walker?

Let’s use a characteristic from each of these problems with the myth of middle-class stagnation as a starting point to discuss how you can be a happier runner or walker.

Quality Improvements

One way to raise your happiness is to think of as many improvements as you can in the quality of running gear. For example:

Running jerseys have improved dramatically from the cotton T-shirts that joggers used to wear to, now, the ones made with technical materials that are lighter and much better at wicking away sweat.
Running shoes have come a long way from the days of experimentation with waffle makers.
Hydration has improved from carrying a bicycle water-bottle in one hand (or planning one’s route according to the availability of garden hoses along the way!) to not leaving home without a light, comfortable hydration belt or pack.

Fringe Benefits

Another way to raise your happiness is to think of the many “fringe benefits” that you now enjoy as a runner or walker. For example:

Group training programs are plentiful in many cities now, and their costs are modest in comparison to how much they help their members.
Race goodies — from goodie bags to technical finisher shirts — are much more plentiful now than they were a couple of decades ago.
Race-day support has improved from simply “We’ll see you at the finish line!” to roving medics on bicycles, along with water stations every 1.5 miles or so that are now more like aid stations, with gels, nearby portable toilets, and your choice of as much water or sports drink as you want.

Modern “Basics”

A third way to raise your happiness is to consider how what you call “basic” to your modern athletic life would have been out of your budget or even impossible to have just a decade or two ago. For example, here are three gadgets that I wear in every race or training session:

A GPS wrist unit, to tell me, for example, my instantaneous pace and my average pace
An interval timer, to beep and vibrate as reminders to tell me when to switch between running and walking with the run:walk method
A step beeper, to pace my running or walking cadence

In a similar vein, the authors of the Wall Street Journal opinion piece noted that the electronic gadgets purchased and used by today’s middle-class teenagers are essentially identical to those found in “top 1%” households. Although I am endeavoring to become part of that top 1% by serving you, my customers, better, all three of these gadgets are affordable now to any endurance runner or walker with a middle-class income.

The Common Theme

The common theme in all of these ways to raise your happiness?

Gratitude!

If you can become more grateful for the quality improvements, fringe benefits, and modern “basics” that you enjoy today as an endurance runner or walker, then you will become happier.

If you believe that you might need some help with raising your general level of gratitude, then I recommend that you check out Gratitude Power for Runners and Walkers — a book that I wrote to help you do just this.

Three Requests

In the mean time, I have three requests:

Make your own lists of quality improvements, fringe benefits, and modern “basics” in your life as an endurance athlete.
Post your favorite one in a comment below.
Click one of the “Share” links on this page to share this article with friends and family.

Thank you! I am grateful for you!