Running for time or distance?
I’ve decided I need a new strategy. I’m in a training rut.
So I’m going to start running for time instead of distance. That’s how I started running in the first place. My friend suggested I do Hal Higdon’s very basic beginner running plan: 10 minutes walking, 15 minutes running, 5 minutes walking. I could do that! Easy peasy!
After I got my bearings a bit, I started running for distance instead of time.
Well, now that I’ve started my training over, my times are slow. Like, depressingly slow. Like, maybe-I-should-just-walk-because-it-would-be-faster slow.
I decided to start like I did the first time: going for time.
A marathoner who works in our video department does this. He always runs for time instead of distance. And sometimes he runs “an extra mile or two.” I can honestly say that I have never, ever, ever “accidentally” run an extra mile or two. So impressive.
So, here’s to a new game plan!
I think B12 is doping
Yesterday our company had a health fair, and St. Anthony’s Hospital was on hand to give out flu shots. You could also pay $10 and get a B12 shot. My mother-in-law raves and raves about them. She gets one every month. She convinced me to give the B12 shot a go. I figure I’d go ahead. It was only $10, so what was there to lose?
Let me just say this: the B12 shot is magic.
A couple hours after I got the shot, I started feeling so energetic and good. I felt like I could run a marathon. Yes – me!
This morning I still feel great, so I’m eager to see how long this feeling lasts. Even for one day, it was $10 well spent.
The dive of doom
So I was out on a short little jaunt after work this week when the embarrassing happened: I fell.
I stubbed my toe on a broken sidewalk and went down like a sack of potatoes. Nothing was hurt but my pride.
This totally happened because I wasn’t paying attention. I was going through a neighborhood that wasn’t my own, and I was busy admiring all the houses around me. When I tripped, I was looking left – actually almost looking backwards. So, of course, what happens in this quiet neighborhood with no traffic? Traffic shows up. Nobody offered to see if I was OK, which was probably a good and bad thing.
I was telling my husband about it later and he said, “Did it feel like it was happening in slow motion?”
Yes. It did feel like that. Because I was in slow motion. That’s when I realized that when it comes to running, everything I do is slow. Even falling.
