Do Rock Stars Walk?
Part of my exercise program is a long run on the weekends. I’m up to eight miles now. Not that long for some, but long for me right now. But I don’t think of it as very long. I ran a marathon once and that reset my idea of “long”. I want to do a marathon again too, but right now my goal is consistency to get the long run to 10 miles (16 km). The eventual marathon is icing on the cake to use a less-healthy metaphor.
Especially on longer runs my mind tends to wander with little direction. I listen to conversations of people I’m passing or that are passing me, I wonder about the twinge in this ankle or that foot or knee. I look at the plants and trees I’m passing, calculate and re-calculate my time & distance, and consider technical problems at work.
I see the weed Polygonium along side the trail - ah, that’s edible! And, with a little more work, so is that deer I just past (not that I’m hunting). It’s unusual to see a deer near noontime, usually they’re resting till later. But there are too much deer in this area. We got rid of all the carnivores and the deer are overpopulating. Some parts of WV and VA have no understory in the forest.
Since consistency is important for my running, and an important part of consistency is being able to run again soon, I end up thinking about various weak points a lot while running. Toes and possible blisters, knees and “twinges”, and the general state of my leg muscles. I do take short walking breaks: one minute out of each ten. They help. But, I’d rather shorten a run or walk back home than not be able to run my next scheduled time.
The conversations I pass can be fun. I heard one mother encouraging her roughly 8 year old son to make a habit of fitness, “Rock stars have to exercise you know. They do a lot of moving around on stage and they have to stay fit.” she said. Her son, thinking this out, asked, “Do rock starts walk?”. I lost her answer as we went opposite directions.
A couple biked by me a little later and both were wearing iPods and earphones. The woman was really getting into the music and burst out singing as she passed, “Baby kiss me one more time!”, somewhat out of key. Several of us on the trail burst out laughing.
So, eight miles today, and four times running shorter distances during the previous week. So far, so good.