How birding re-inspired my training

This year I turned 30. I don’t feel old, but if you’d asked me a decade ago what old was, this would’ve been it. Watching the Toronto Blue Jays’ World Series run this fall, calling some professional athletes “washed up” from my couch, I realized I wasn’t too far off myself.

My race times aren’t what they were five or 10 years ago. Even logging 70 or 80 kilometres a week doesn’t come as easily as it used to. I’ve always considered myself a bit of a running purist–just me, my watch and maybe an emergency credit card. That means no music, no podcasts and no distractions (besides red and green lights). This is what running looked like for me.

Then I started birding.

Birding (or bird-watching) sounds simple, right? But it entirely changed how I approach running.

My easy runs have been mentally exhausting. I’d spend an hour replaying bad decisions, worrying about work emails I needed to respond to or overanalyzing where my heart rate is. Now, I don’t head out without my phone and the Merlin Bird ID app. Instead of obsessing over pace, I’m listening for sounds and calls. It really feels like it’s become a game of curiosity for discovery.

I wish I had a romantic backstory about how I got into birding, but I don’t. I vaguely remember a colleague and my partner’s mom both mentioned it to me within a week or two, so I did a little research, downloaded a few apps, and figured, why not?

In the past six months, I’ve spotted more than 50 different bird species (known as “new lifers”), including a rare black-headed gull, a northern waterthrush and a few mute swans. For millennials, birding feels like the real-life version of Pokémon: you’re out in nature, collecting sightings for your ID app instead of digital creatures for a Pokédex.

I’m no hardcore birder, and I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t even have an eBird account yet (basically Strava for birding). But this new hobby has done more for my training than any running accessory. It’s helped me rediscover why I love being outdoors. I’ve explored new trails and routes, plus I’ve gotten my mileage back to pre-30-slump levels, without those easy-run days feeling like a chore.

Explaining this new hobby to my friends is still a tough sell. Most of them think it’s lame. Maybe you do, too. But here’s the point: If you find yourself in a training rut, don’t be afraid to change how you run. Bring your phone. Look up once in a while. Who knows? Maybe you’ll become a birder, too.