Running
Thoughts on all things running-related. Destinations, routes, products, gear, fueling up, races, and reflections.
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Questions about Running and Heart Health
As runners, we’re accustomed to hearing that we’ll “ruin our knees” and other nonsense, usually from someone who uses that colloquial wisdom as an excuse to be a couch potato. And although I find those people to be irritating, their assertions don’t trouble me. Given the alternative of being a couch potato, I think my knees are better off belonging to a healthy-weight runner, thank you very much. Yes, every time someone makes a comment about running ruining my knees, I want to say something snarky like, “I hope that can of soda doesn’t ruin your pancreas.” So yes, I still find the insinuation oddly annoying. However, it doesn’t give…
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Why I’m Embracing Running Now More Than Ever
I have no idea why, but I recently became re-enchanted with running. Running has always been there. It’s been in the background of every day and every week for many many years. I would look at my calendar and give top billing to the things that I thought were most important – school, and then eventually work. Because (unless you’re a professional athlete) they are supposed to be the most important things, right? And then I would try to fit running in around those things. I used running to burn calories and “stay healthy” as an obligation rather than as a separate practice with its own goals and redeeming qualities. I…
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Finding Happiness by Knowing Yourself Better
Or: All I Really Want is Healthy Food and a Good Run I’ve spent a good bit of my life searching for happiness and assuming that it would arrive in the form of the attainment of traditional goals like career success. I have been living with the subconscious belief system that happiness will be a destination, even though my brain knows better. Happiness is in the things we do every day. And if you can’t find it now, then it’s time to make changes! One of the biggest road blocks between me and happiness has been a failure to identify what makes me happy. If you don’t take the time to figure out…
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The Rewards of Record Keeping
Whether for good or for bad, we runners seem to be obsessive record-keepers, logging miles, minutes, pace, race stats, etc. Maybe it’s because I require validation that I’ve done enough, run fast enough or far enough, validation that I’m maintaining my fitness year in and year out. Maybe I’m even looking for validation that I haven’t peaked yet? I’ve been using the same trusty running log for 13 years. There are plenty of good reasons to keep nice thorough notes on your training. Your notes might help you piece together a strategy for improving. Maybe you’re noticing that you run best an hour after you eat a banana or that it takes…
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Running with Raynaud’s
Picture this. It’s 37 degrees out, full sun, no wind. I emerge from my house for a run wearing my full winter ensemble which includes long pants, two long-sleeved shirts, and a multi-layer windbreaker/jacket with the hood zipped tightly around my face over top of my hat. The finishing touch is a set of mittens that would make it seem to the innocent bystander as if I might be on my way to summit Everest. The other night, I arrived at running club in weather just like this, slightly warmer than average for the middle of winter in Ohio, especially after dark. As we stood around waiting to begin (standing…
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Unplanned Rest Days
I blame winter. I like to say that if I lived somewhere else – either somewhere warmer, or somewhere with more daylight hours, I wouldn’t suffer this temptation. I have no way of knowing whether that’s true since I’ve only ever lived in Ohio, but I’m aware that it’s a sorry excuse. I’m talking about the temptation to skip my workout and take an unplanned rest day. You know that little devil on your shoulder. The one who doesn’t show up until around 2:15 p.m. when he just pops his head in and leads with some seemingly benign comment like, “How you feeling? Has this been a long day, or…
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The Weekend Long Run: The Beginning
I was in the fifth grade, and as is the case with most fifth graders, I had very few responsibilities eating up my free time. So after school, I tagged along with my dad to track practice. I knew that my dad was a runner, and I knew that he coached the 7th and 8th graders, but that was about the extent of my awareness of track and field. I quickly learned that track season in Ohio begins at a time of year when the best adjective to describe the great outdoors is “dreary,” and that this would not be used as an excuse to stay inside. The evenings were, more often…
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The View From the Back of the Pack
I dealt with a harsh reality this week. Let me begin by acknowledging some harsh realities I’ve already been privy to. 1) I’m not the fastest runner in the world. 2) I’m not the fastest runner in Ohio. 3) I’m not the fastest runner in my own household. 4) Ok, let’s face it – I’m almost never the fastest runner in any group. I’m usually not the slowest either. Until this week. I hadn’t been to our running club in well over a year, but after bumping into a few other runners at a race, Dan and I felt inspired to rejoin the group. Let me tell you what, January…
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Race Review: Charleston Half Marathon
I may have made the often-questionable decision to live in Ohio, but I do, at least, have the common sense and decency to try to leave as often as possible during the winter months for destinations less cold, less brutal, and less gray. My parents, my husband, and I have started a tradition of visiting a warmer destination for a half marathon every winter. We’re in our third year now, and the list of races I want to run just keeps getting longer! It’s still not as often as I’d like, but I have fantasies of a life in which I go wherever I want for as long as I want when…
