The Power of Repetition

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

Three to five times each week, I run up a trail called the Laguna Bowl. It starts on the inland edge of the 133 leading into Laguna Beach, right next to the tennis courts and the Pageant of the Masters. The Bowl is nearly two miles long and climbs nearly 1,000 feet. Once I get to the top, there are a dozen different routes I could take. If I wanted to, I could run a 50k from my back door and not repeat myself.

Three to five times each week, I climb up the same damn hill. Today is Tuesday and I’ve already climbed the Bowl twice. I know every inch of that trail. Some days, it feels easy. Some days, it feels like I’m dragging a case of lead. Some days, I dislike the monotony of doing the same climb, and some days, I look behind me and see the ocean stretching out like a wide, yawning chasm and I can’t help but feel happy that I’m here, on this trail, in this small artsy city by the ocean.

Running up the same trail is redundant and repetitive and sometimes tiresome, but it’s also been incredibly rewarding. I’ve grown to love the Bowl through sheer repetition. Running itself is an act of repetition, broken up by new scenery or new people or new things to think about. To zoom out a bit further, any exercise can be redundant. Any thing, done enough times to really stick, is repetitious and boring; the 10,000…