JJSB RunDate 15325: Jimmy just completed a run = Jimmy just took his medicine

Most of you who have read this blog are aware that I use a phone app called Runkeeper when I run.  There is an option to post the run results to Facebook which I often (but not always) do.  I sometimes am concerned that these posts seem conceited and are annoying to my Facebook friends and I stop sharing as often.  However, every time I back off, I have people ask me why I'm not running as much.  When I say that I am but am just not posting the runs to Facebook, they tell me that they like to see my runs posted along with the little maps that accompany them.  Some people tell me that they are inspired by them, even those who don't run themselves.  Other runners use them as a challenge to go faster (not that difficult) and/or further (a little more difficult) than me.  I know there are also a few people who care about me enough to know that, when I'm regularly running, I'm in a better place mentally and emotionally.

For those of you who are friends on Facebook (which probably includes everyone who will read this), I have another reason for you to be thankful when you see my Runkeeper posts: It means that I've "taken my medicine".

Way back in January of this year, I stopped taking the medication that I had been taking every day for roughly 9 years.  It was anti-anxiety medicine and a set of circumstances caused me to just be fed up with taking it.  I decided that I was done.

Now, instead of taking a pill every morning that mutes all of the amplified stimuli that I feel every day, I remain aware of when I am beginning to feel overwhelmed by said stimuli and I go for a run.  The anti-anxiety medicine did little to relieve the bouts of depression that I encountered and will likely continue to encounter for the remainder of my time on this earth; However, the running helps tremendously with this.  When I begin to feel hopeless, overwhelmed with sadness or keyed up, I choose to run.  And it helps.  Sometimes more than others, but it always helps.

So, when you see my Runkeeper posts on Facebook, please think, "Jimmy took his medicine.  Jimmy is going to be Okay."  Feel free to even post things like, "You took your medicine!  Good job!" or "I'm glad to see that you're taking your medicine." or "Thank God you are still taking your medicine!"


As I continue to list a "Song of the Run" from my current top 20 bands, I give you a band that has been a favorite since around 2007 called The Editors.

Here is their song, "Phonebook"  My favorite from their album The Weight of Your Love

"Sing me a love song

from your heart or from the phonebook

It don't matter to me

I'm an apple, you're the tree

I won't fall when you're shook"