meditation on running.
some days i wonder if i'll be a consistent runner again. let's say that consistent means
yesterday i coasted around campus and the arboretum, followed the huron river a little, and clocked out in under 30 minutes.
today i circled central campus: up packard street and then along main street, then huron parkway, zigzagged to washtenaw avenue, and back to packard street via stadium blvd: a little under 40 minutes.
despite the stretching, my lower back is bothering me. i'd say that i'm getting old, but that would mean that plenty of men and women that i know, spry and able and older than me, would be "old."
they'd be too kind to kick my a$$, so let me not test their resolve; let me say instead that i'm just getting soft.
thinking about it, i have a lot of respect for my father.
i had the benefit of youth when i first began running seriously, whereas he must have been in his mid-thirties when he started. he had to learn to stretch and to warm-up the 'hard way.'
the magazine runner's world wasn't what it is today. there was advice out there that worked, true, but two decades ago there was no 'sure-fire strategy' to finish a marathon. back then, being a runner meant more toughness and grit, and it meant taking your chances.
my older sister had to hear about all this running from my dad and me for years, and she took up running in grad school, more or less. after a few years of training, she finishes her (first) marathon.
as you can imagine, she's a tough one, too.
sometimes i wonder if i only have so many miles left in me, before something gives out. my right knee acts up sometimes; i think i will feel it tomorrow.
despite all my rants and frustations, life isn't bad.
i wonder how long it will last.
- running more than half the days in a given week;
- more than fifteen (15) miles a week.
yesterday i coasted around campus and the arboretum, followed the huron river a little, and clocked out in under 30 minutes.
today i circled central campus: up packard street and then along main street, then huron parkway, zigzagged to washtenaw avenue, and back to packard street via stadium blvd: a little under 40 minutes.
despite the stretching, my lower back is bothering me. i'd say that i'm getting old, but that would mean that plenty of men and women that i know, spry and able and older than me, would be "old."
they'd be too kind to kick my a$$, so let me not test their resolve; let me say instead that i'm just getting soft.
thinking about it, i have a lot of respect for my father.
i had the benefit of youth when i first began running seriously, whereas he must have been in his mid-thirties when he started. he had to learn to stretch and to warm-up the 'hard way.'
the magazine runner's world wasn't what it is today. there was advice out there that worked, true, but two decades ago there was no 'sure-fire strategy' to finish a marathon. back then, being a runner meant more toughness and grit, and it meant taking your chances.
my older sister had to hear about all this running from my dad and me for years, and she took up running in grad school, more or less. after a few years of training, she finishes her (first) marathon.
as you can imagine, she's a tough one, too.
sometimes i wonder if i only have so many miles left in me, before something gives out. my right knee acts up sometimes; i think i will feel it tomorrow.
despite all my rants and frustations, life isn't bad.
i wonder how long it will last.