Today was a code brown day. That is to say, through the repetitive jostling movement of running, my body had completed processing recently consumed food items and was ready to deposit the unfavorable results. I had to go and I still had four miles left.

It was in this thoroughly uncomfortable situation, however, that I remembered the time a mere four months ago when I would have given anything to brave the gauntlet of “holding it” now laid out before me.

At that time, my hip flexor was so inflamed that the act of simply walking caused pain, nevermind running. This experience was not dissimilar to that of the majority of runners, as regardless of experience level, statistics say that up to 80 percent of runners will have some sort of overuse injury every year. Yet, this full stop on something I did six times a week left a hole in my life that I wasn’t sure I could define.

People ask me all the time some form of the question, “How can you enjoy running?” citing the well-documented fact that “running is hard.” Before my injury, I used to say that I ran to win races during the season, and any pain endured now would be worth it later. Now I wasn’t so sure. Why was I itching to go for a run in the middle of June? While running now had clear benefits to my fitness, it represented only marginal gains in October.

I eventually came to the conclusion that I had invested so much time into running, it had inextricably become a part of who I am. The challenges it presents to me on a daily basis have become ritualistic; I run because that’s what I did yesterday, and the day before. At the risk of sounding trite, I believe my injury helped me see a meaning in my daily trial of miles.

My message in writing this is not to encourage all of you to go for a run (although it probably couldn’t hurt, you might like it), but to encourage you to find the reason, the real reason, behind the things that you do everyday. Whether it’s playing an instrument or a sport or even just going to school, finding what makes you tick can be a truly rewarding experience.

Yes, my hip injury went away, and I have made adjustments to my training to make sure that something like that never happens again, but it assuredly will, that’s how running is. In life it sometimes takes losing something to realize that that thing is important to you, and when, not if, I get injured again, I’ll once again develop a longing for code brown days or even (God forbid) Coach Wilber’s ab workout.