Concrete feels amazing under my feet. The soft pounding travels up my body in a familiar rhythm. Great to finally be free outside and from the winter treadmills. Spring weather comes just in time to break the winter stresses. For students it breaks the academic stress by providing hope, for adults it is a nice warmth right after taxes.

But nothing really relieves life like running. Every runner knows that a great run involves the freedom away from stress, anxiety, and worry. Each step gets closer to peace of mind. Often, we are told how running removes a day's stress. Yet when I went for a run, I found myself returning to the same stress I just left.

Anyone else find that true?

Running is supposed to remove you from what sucks in life. Instead, I found myself coming back to where I started—physically and mentally. At times, it was like I never ran at all.

So why keep running?

Like any runner would say, running becomes an addiction. You keep coming back to it no matter what. From day one, running has become that thing I look forward to the most: the feeling of sun on my skin, my music turned up loud, and the steady thump of pavement against my feet.

It took me away from stressing about finding a job after graduation. Anxiety about what happens after graduation. Worry that I am an adult and still have no clue what I am doing.

Whenever life got too cumbersome, I threw on my running shoes and escaped it. However, when I came back I never felt better. I stopped getting the runner's high or feeling relaxed. It was like anxiety, stress, and worry had been waiting that whole time for me to return. After awhile, the three of them found a pair of running shoes and managed to keep up no matter how fast I moved my legs.

My runs just were not giving me what I wanted—an escape. My times were not getting better, and my favorite thing in the day wasn't my favorite anymore.

Then it hit me. I am running wrong. I am not talking about form—I am talking about mentally running wrong. My mind was not where it needed to be when I ran. Instead of focusing on my form, how my foot hit the pavement, how high I raised my knees, I focused on what was troubling me. It was not that anxiety, stress, and worry found out how to keep up with me, it was that I was carrying them while running.

Now I enjoy my runs. Not that life has gotten any easier—stress, worry, and anxiety are still there. I am no longer running to escape. Instead, I run as a break from what life has been throwing at me.