2015-11-12 - Don't let ego ruin your running
I read a FB comment, "Sure glad I got my miles in today before I came down with this awful cold." As runners, this is the mentality that leads to days off due to sickness or pain. A smart comment would be, "I sure wish I had skipped todays run, I might have been able to duck getting sick." Our sport requires us to read our bodies closely looking for clues that tell us when to back off, drop out of a race or train and race hard. We follow schedules, have weekly mileage goals and some of us even share this info on social media, all of this brings pressure to perhaps sneak in just one more mile, often when we know we are pushing the limit, one more mile that might just cost us a month of mileage, dang.
Run smart, forever,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner for over 35 years, who makes less stupid mistakes now, but still lets ego get in the way occasionally ... but less and less! A work in progress.
PS: Ease up and lick your wounds, the serious run season is over. Perhaps enter the Holiday Hustle 5K and 1 Mile, December 12th, then take a silly winter road trip romp in the snow at the Bigfoot 5 or 10K Snowshoe run in Traverse City January 23rd, then party and run on Super Bowl Sunday at the Super 5K February 7th. Just enough commitment to get us out the door this winter so we will be ready to ramp up again for the new season!
2015-11-04 - Run uninhibited!
Runners are creatures of habit. We often run the same routes at the same pace with the same equipment and often with the same mindset for every run. Habits can add to our consistency but they can also limit our enjoyment of the sport in ways we will never know, until we break out of our comfortable ways. One habit I've broken is running past interesting stuff like great architecture or natural wonders, without stopping to really check them out. I was running every run like a race where the clock never stops, worried about recording my pace per mile or whatever. I now stop, perhaps post to social media or just mentally take in the pearls that now make each run more special and valuable to me. And yes, it sure makes my pace look bad on the run application on my phone and I'm kind of proud of myself for no longer caring ... And understanding that nobody else does either, duh.