"Poor Guys Run"
(originally published at MMA Weekly.com)

When I was in college, I used to do a fair bit of running in my strength & conditioning training. Normally, I did my weight training Monday through Friday in the mid-morning between classes. On Sunday through Thursday (usually sometime that night – say 9:00 or 10:00), I’d go run.

This was before I discovered the enormous benefits of HIIT and interval training, so my running was L.S.D. style (Long Slow Distance). I was no marathoner, but I averaged 2.5-6 miles per day.

Believe it or not, I enjoyed running. Usually just past the one-mile mark, I get that “tingly” feeling. This meant that endorphins had been released into my body, and I was no longer feeling any kind of “pain” or discomfort from the exertion. Plugged into my Walkman, I had a good “groove” going by this point, and the rest of the effort was just doing it.

Let me preface my next point – I enjoy running in the rain. TheI water cools me, the air is thick with moisture and easy to take in, as it’s not “ideal” weather, most people are inside…I can go out, start running, and almost “lose” myself in the effort. My runs were usually longer in the rain, and more intense. (In other words, I worked harder.)

If you didn’t know already, I live and went to college in North Carolina. If you know anything about the southeast, you know that there are periods during the spring and fall in which it rains virtually nonstop for weeks on end. I loved this time of year.

I used to catch a lot of crap from women for running in the rain. My mom used to pester me, “You’re going to catch a cold!” A girl I was pretty good friends with used to shake her head at me, “I’m telling you, you’re going to catch pneumonia!” Now, if I do any running in the rain, my wife hounds me, “You’re going to get sick and give it to everybody in the house!” It’s harder to put up with all this crap than it is to actually do the running!!

One fateful afternoon, it began raining, and I decided to get my run in early. I had gone a couple miles, and the endorphins were running wild. I was “lost” in the run, and had let go mentally – I was just worried about the physical effort.

As I rounded a corner on campus, a car drove by and honked. I threw up a hand to wave, but, keeping my head down, I made no effort to determine who it was. I just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

Later that day, I was at the university cafeteria (or “mess hall,” as I called it) having dinner. A group of us were sitting together when a small group of girls joined us.

These girls were “friends” of ours in that we all knew and were cordial with each other, but we didn’t really like one another. They were “rich kids” – the kind that had been given everything they ever wanted since birth. They never had a job. They never had to work for anything.

I think that by now, most of you who follow my work know what I’m like – just “regular guy.” These girls were the exact opposite of a “regular guy.”

As they sat down, one of them began to chide me, “Hey Wiggy, why are you out running in the rain?” It turned out they were the ones who had been in the car that honked at me earlier. “Don’t you know you’ll get sick?” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, there are Stairmasters over at the gym – why not just use those?”

“Because poor guys run,” I replied.

She looked at me with a completely befuddled look. I knew she didn’t get it. And she never would.

When I went back to my dorm room, I got one of my workout shirts and a felt-tip marker. I wrote “Poor Guys Run” on the back across the shoulders. I wore that shirt on almost every run I went on for two years. Some people – the “regular guys” – got it. Everybody else was clueless. But that was Ok. It’s sort of like what the Westside Barbell T-shirts say: “If you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.”

By now, there are probably a few of you that are wondering what this story has to do with fight or strength & conditioning training. The answer is “pretty much nothing.”

However, the next time you’re out doing your conditioning or strength training, making your way to boxing class, or even though you’re sore and dead tired, you still go to grappling class anyway, and somebody looks at you with a befuddled look and wants to know “Why?” just tell them, “Because poor guys run.”

They most likely won’t understand, but that’s Ok. I will, the guys here at MMA Weekly.com will, and all your fellow MMA brothers (regardless of where they’re located) will. We’ll understand – and we’ll be with you in spirit.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.