Monthly Archives: July 2013

Running Journal, Entry 3

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Saturday: This morning I looked at my watch when I started to run and decided to just keep running until I got tired. I ran 6 minutes without stopping. Part of what may have maintained my stamina was that it was a very cool and overcast morning, and I was afraid that it might rain. I wanted to finish my run before any rain came. I was also afraid that if there was a storm coming, maybe lightening would develop. What do you do if you are in the middle of a run and lightening develops, and there is no quick way to get indoors? I have to figure out a plan for that so I’m prepared if it ever happens.

Sometimes I like to pretend things as I’m running, to make the time go faster. Today I pretended that my feet were tennis rackets and the earth was the tennis ball. I really tried to hit that tennis ball back everytime my feet touched the ground and bounce back off the earth forward until my other foot hit the ground and I could bounce forward again, continuously moving forward to my destination.

This weekend I didn’t feel quite as out of breath as I have in the past. Coincidentally, I recently had one of my routine CT scans. Reading the results is funny because they seem to put a lot of information in the description about all the different organs they see in the scan. I’ve just never heard of my organs being described before, and so to me it’s funny. The results said something about my fully expanded lungs, or something like that. It seemed like they were saying I have very healthy lungs. As I felt out of breath, I remembered my fully expanded lungs and I said to myself, “You’ve got great lungs so just run, baby, run!”

Another time when I was feeling tired, I thought of the deep dish pizza I had eaten the night before, and that gave me motivation to keep on going.

Sunday: Ran (mixed with walking) for an hour today, of unknown distance. Because of cloudy skies and because I didn’t have a ride back, I ran halfway to the next town and then turned around, finding some outdoor stairs to incorporate into my workout. It was fun to try something new and to incorporate running up and down the stairs into my running routine.

I ran for 7 minutes straight today without needing to stop and walk. I can feel the muscles in the back of my legs and my glutes now when I run, and they feel sort of stretched out, but comfortably so, so that I like the way they feel when I run. They are comfortable, or, I have found a comfortable position while running. It makes me want to run and feel my stretched out muscles. Makes me feel healthy, and like I’m toning my muscles and also (hopefully) improving my metablolism.

It was a cool day for running today and the cool breeze felt good. When I am running, I feel self-reliant, like I can depend on my body and depend on myself. It makes me feel powerful and free.

Absolute Zero

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Sometimes, I revert back to my natural bookworm ways and start reading science books. I’ve been reading about Thermodynamics, which is the study of temperature. I’ve always thought that there are a lot of philosophical ideas in Thermodynamics. Case in point: Absolute Zero.

Absolute Zero is a temperature on the Kelvin scale (as opposed to Farenheit or Celsius) of -273.15. It is the temperature at which all thermal motion would stop (if absolute zero could be achieved in our physical world). Scientists try to reach close to absolute zero in the hopes of creating superconductors with zero resistance.

But in our everyday lives, we don’t ever come close to anything such as the absolute zero. Think of all the atoms of which our physical world is made. Think of all the electrons in those atoms which are constantly spinning. Think of all the motion going on constantly around us. Then think of absolute zero, the point where all of this motion would cease. It’s a mind boggling thing to contemplate for two reasons.

The first reason is that our whole world and everything in it is in motion all of the time. It would be hard to imagine all of that motion stopping. The second daunting thing to think of is that there could be any absolutes in nature, any limits in nature, at all.

When we think of temperatures from month to month, we think of how much they fluctuate through the winter, spring, summer, and fall months. It gets very hot and humid in the summer, when you feel that you could cut the air with a knife. Then it can also get so cold in winter that even with a heavy coat on, we shiver when we are out in the elements. In this way, nature is really flexible, and there is such a broad spectrum that nature can take in terms of temperature.

I like to think of nature and of life as flexible and forgiving, and that there is a pendulum swinging back and forth. Eventually, wherever the pendulum is, it will always swing back the other way. Thinking of an absolute zero is scary because it is something that would be very inflexible, very unforgiving. Somehow there is always a second chance in the physical world we live in. After the cold winter days, there are always the warmer summer days. I’m glad that the pendulum swings back and forth. I would shudder to think of all motion at a standstill. I’m glad that it is not something we see in our everyday lives.

And that is how Thermodynamics can be philosophical. It gets you thinking about day to day life in our physical world.

 

Running Journal

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I ran 3 miles again yesterday and today (Saturday and Sunday) on the walking path. New challenges? I ran the 3 miles two days in a row – I haven’t done that before. Also, I always look at my watch and time myself – run 3 minutes, then walk 1 or 2 minutes, run 3 minutes, etc. Today was the first day that I didn’t feel like I needed to keep looking at my watch. I thought I’d just keep running until I got too tired. I ended up running for 4 minutes straight before needing a walking break and then another 4 minutes straight after that. Then I started to need more walking breaks. My guess is that maybe my body was just tired since I ran 3 miles two days in a row? And it’s never really my body, my legs could keep on going but it’s my lungs that always feel like they are going to explode and then I need to take a walking break. I hope eventually that this goes away and then I can truly truly enjoy running, without the discomfort of feeling like my chest is screaming out in agony for me to walk.

Another thing that I concentrated on today was not anticipating the path ahead. I’d catch myself thinking that I had to hurry up because I had to be at my destination in time because Jim would be there to pick me up. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I didn’t get there in time but for some reason I kept thinking I should hurry up. When I’m trapped in that type of thinking it’s good training for me to live in the moment and stop anticipating. I told myself, forget about the destination, forget about the time. What I’m doing now is running for 3 or 4 minutes straight. That’s all I need to worry about. If I think about what I’m doing now and just concentrate on that, I will be at my destination before I know it. And that’s exactly what happened.

I think my overall timing may have improved just a little. I think I can run the 3 miles just a few minutes faster than maybe a few weeks ago. I don’t keep exact track of my timing, but it seems like it’s going a little faster. The 3 miles doesn’t seem to be as long to me as it used to either. I’ve found what feels like to me to be the halfway point. It seems like nothing now to get to that point, and once I’m past that point, it seems like I’m just on the homestretch and it doesn’t feel like such a long way at all. I’m thinking of extending my course a little further for next week. That’s another thing I enjoy about running, there are always new challenges that one can add. Keep moving, keep growing.   : )

 

 

Running Journal

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We’ve started a new habit on the weekends. I get up and run on the walking path from our town to the neighboring town, about 3 miles away. There, Jim picks me up and we go out to breakfast. It’s like my own private 5K race each weekend.

This weekend, Jim was working and so I ran three miles to the next town over, rested for 10 minutes and drank some water, and then went back home, running part of the way and walking much of it. Knowing that Jim wouldn’t be there to pick me up, I could have shortened my run to 1.5 miles and then headed back home, still running 3 miles in total. But I didn’t want to do that. I needed the challenge. I needed to continue the weekend routine of running from one town to the next.

One thing I discovered on the way back home is that it seemed like running was actually less tiring than walking. This surprised me but it was a pleasant surprise. I also noticed how I love how my body feels when I’m in motion. I actually noticed that earlier this week in my Cardio Kickboxing class. That class adds in balance to the motion – you have to have balance to raise your leg and kick. I think that’s when I first noticed that I enjoyed feeling my body in motion. Today I enjoyed the feeling again on my run.

Not to mention that running for me is a stress reliever. Whatever my worries are, I can run them out. When I’m finished running, I’m too tired to feel anxious.

I also challenged myself today in the strategy for my run. I decided to run for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute. (Last weekend I ran for 2 minutes and walked for 1 minute). Near the end (when I was almost to the next town) I ran for 3 minutes and walked for 2 minutes. On the way back, between several stretches of walking, I ran for 2 minutes and walked for 2 mintues. My entire route today was about 6 miles. Although the second half of it was mostly walking, and I had a 10 minute break in between, I felt like it was a step toward running for longer distances than 3 or 4 miles. Slowly I can piece together longer runs.

I absolutely love having something like running to work on. It is so satisfying to me to start on something and watch it grow – watch my endurance grow, and the distance I can go, etc. It makes me feel like I’m making progress in my life, and that makes me feel that I’m thriving.

 

 

New Shoes

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Recently, we heard about a really good shoe store for runners. Jim and I checked it out today. With every new hobby comes the inevitable purchasing of gear. It felt like when I was a little kid going to the store for new shoes before a new school year starts. There is some type of excitement and anticipation that comes along with the purchase of new shoes.

The shoe store was great and the salesman helping us was very knowledgeable and he obviously had a passion for running. He was familiar with a lot of running events and asked me what my next run would be and what my goals were. He measured my feet carefully and brought out several pairs of shoes for me to try. I felt very special, sitting there, taking time to find just the right shoes. I also got special running socks which really fit well and felt as if someone were hugging my feet.

The salesman put each pair of shoes on my feet and tied them snuggly. He asked me to walk around in them to see how they felt. I walked towards the back of the store and then returned, not only walking but flexing my feet, bending them different ways, trying to really notice how the shoes would feel on my feet. The salesman asked my husband if I have trouble making decisions.

I felt like this young salesman was a very good judge of character. In just the 10 minutes that he had been helping me try on different shoes, he had picked up on a major component of my personality. I guess I just hadn’t expected this from someone younger than me and who had only met me a few minutes before. It made me wonder what others see in me when they first meet me and how this trait (difficulty making decisions) affects my life.

I feel like I must apologize for what I’m about to say next, except that this is the blog where I can say my true feelings, the good with the bad and the ugly. Perhaps I was feeling a little bit sensitive at the time, but, I immediately felt like everything around me had become crystal clear - now I knew why I’ve never become the CEO of a company, because I can’t make decisions very well, and not only that, people who barely know me can tell this about me! It’s ironic to me to think of the many ways I have always tried to strive for things in my life, but in the end, I was oblivious to certain key things. I guess we all have trouble seeing the truths about ourselves. We are not always as self-aware as we wish. I wish I had met this salesman years ago, and I wish he would have given me a heads up at the time. Sometimes we find honesty and truth in the strangest places.

In the end, we all do the best we can. Inadvertantly, with the purchase of my new shoes came a new bit of self-awareness as well. And a new chance to accept myself even with my own perceived short-comings.