My friend Dave blogged about running, how he enjoys the point where his mind is trying to justify quitting and he has to push through. He threw an insult at us amatuers, who find the use of an iPod to block out the pain helpful.
I was thinking about this as I tried to job around my neighborhood tonight and found my mind's justifications far stronger than my lungs and legs. I did use my iPod as a motivational tool, telling myself I at least had to run until the end of the track I was listening to. This is slightly more impressive than it sounds, as the track I was listening to was a 20-minute BBC podcast of a weekly show where comedians talk about current events. Then I realized I was using my iPod for motivation and to block out my brain with a BBC podcast of a weekly show where comedians talk about current events.
Not exactly "Eye of the Tiger," I suppose. But since I'm in DC instead of Philadelphia, perhaps appropriate. (Hard to set a montage to, though).
Friday, January 11, 2008
running
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2 comments:
In my defense, I can appreciate that sometimes distraction is needed to keep going and I've been known to get out on a run with music in my ears, but I wanted to point out that being in that moment and fighting with myself is one of the great joys of running for me. I don't want to fight always or continually, those runs are not fun, but I hope that you and others take some time to wrestle with yourself in the run instead of always trying to be somewhere else. I support running and whatever it takes to do it, but if you want to do it, do you always want to be distracted from it?
A second minor point I recognize is that there's also a distinction between a race and a run in my mind. I recognize that not everyone takes their entry fee so seriously.
I remember the days when running long distances was simply a matter of moving through the pain, when it felt as though I could run forever if I had the mental toughness to do it. Then, there was certainly some satisfaction in battling my mind and pushing through the pain.
These days, however, when I'm running I'm worried that it might actually kill me. Sometimes I think I can feel the plaque being pushed through my arteries, and at those times I'm more than happy to have a distraction. When I'm trying to push myself a little further than the day before and make this running thing into a habit instead of a let's-do-this-for-a-couple-days-this-week-and-then-neglect-to-keep-it-up sort of thing, the distraction is crucial. I long for the day when I've put in enough time to once again welcome the inner fight to keep running. For now, I'm using the iPod.
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