To plug in, or not to plug in?

Some people love gadgets. They have to have the latest and greatest items to make their lives more efficient or simply to be on the cutting edge of technology. I am not this person, but I am married to one. I swear I would not know about even half of the electronic doohickies available in this world if not for my husband. In fact, it is very likely I would still be happily using a flip phone, and quite certainly nothing in my home would be automated. (Have you ever seen the movie Demon Seed? That’s creepy stuff!)

While I’m much slower to warm to new technology than some, I will concede that I love my iPhone and the convenience AppleTV affords us (No commercials? Yes, please!). When it comes to running, though, I just can’t break that barrier. So far, I’ve managed to avoid a GPS watch, heart rate monitor, fitbit, Apple watch, and whatever else is en vogue for athletes these days. (It’s probably telling that I have been a regular reader of Runner’s World magazine for decades, and a member of many online running groups that cover just this sort of thing, yet I still have no idea what’s going on in this area. Selective memory, I think it’s called…) This isn't out of any aversion to technology in principle, nor do I actively seek to keep this kind of thing out of my workouts; I simply do not actively seek to put them in, which to me seems like a lot more work. I don't want to figure out how to use it all, and have to connect gadgets up to my computer after every workout. I don't have time for that. Plus, as I mentioned in my last blog post about becoming semi-zen with regards to my running, keeping track of all that stuff stresses me out anyway. As far as music goes, I've lived/spent time in too many large cities and lonely trails to want to impede my hearing during a run. If there's a car, or sketchy dude, or bear approaching, I want to know about it as soon as possible! So, no earbuds for this gal.  In any case, there is so much happening in my head at any given time, I rarely hear silence. And it gives me some much-needed time to work out problems, develop new ideas, and flesh out old ones.

I do confess to having pulled out my smartphone to call upon the wisdom of various mapping services to assist me on a trail run from time to time, for which I was grateful, but overall I think I’m doing just fine without all the wires and chips. Maybe it’s part of the whole “Zen Running” thing I posted about in my last blog, or maybe I’m just lazy. It’s probably a combination of the two, but either way my years-old Timex Ironman watch and I have been through too much for me to move on quite yet. (Note the toddler hair tie serving as the strap thing that holds the end of the watch band down, since mine broke at some point that eludes current memory.)

What’s a running gadget you can’t live without? Tell us about it in the comments!

Zen and the Art of Running

A snapshot of my insanity

For years, I kept meticulous track of my runs. Distance, time, location, weather, sometimes even which shoes I was wearing. I was also chain-training. I would train for one event, and then once completed think, “Well, I’m already trained, I should just sign up for another race soon so all I have to do is maintain…” I was constantly running, constantly recording, constantly leaving social activities to run or get to sleep in preparation for a run.

Years of logs

Finally, inevitably, I burned out. I told myself that I would do one more race (it was the 2009 Boston Marathon, so it was worth it), and then take a year off from training, at least for full marathons. That was the last marathon I ran, and as I write this it is January 2017.

Does that mean I recoiled into a life where I spend all of my free time on the couch with a bag of chips in my lap, watching reality tv? No, although sometimes that doesn’t sound so bad. Once I felt like I had some degree of running mojo back, I went back to 5k, 10k and half marathon races. In fact, there was a time there where I was doing half marathons once or twice a month for a couple of years! I also threw in a couple of sprint triathlons, in 2010 and 2012. The first one I registered for to give me a project to keep my mind and body constructively occupied while my husband was deployed to Iraq. The second was to give me motivation to get back to training after I had a baby in 2011. It didn’t though, and I ended up doing the race almost completely untrained and terrified that at any moment I was going to fly over my handlebars or get a flat tire that I could not remedy. This is not a plan I recommend.

July 2012 - haven't even sat on my bike since this day! Must change that. 

But there was a difference: I was able to train for events of half marathon (13.1 miles) and shorter (the sprint tris were SUPER short) while still maintaining my normal life. I still worked, saw friends, ate and slept with no particular requirements. It turns out that this work-life-play balance was what I needed to enjoy running again. The full marathons had just turned running – my “play” – into another version of work, and left me with a work-life-work situation that was far from balanced.

A couple of years ago, I went a step further. I stopped recording my times, even for races. I still wear a watch, primarily because I am a type-A East Coaster who gets panicky without one, but it’s not fancy (more on this in the next post!) and does not include GPS or features that monitor anything other than time. I don’t follow any sort of training “plans” and instead run according to how I feel, how much time I have, and what the weather is doing. Repeats? Nope. Track work? Nope. Hill work? Only to get back up the hill to my house. I haven’t run with music (except on the treadmill) since my high school track and cross country days, when the quick, steady beats of Green Day and The Offspring got me through many an early-morning workout, so my ears are open and free to enjoy the sounds of nature, traffic, or the potential creeper approaching behind me. And I’ve recently begun to get out on the trails more, something I’m lucky enough to have close to my home in Boulder, Colorado.

The result: I’m back in love with running! I find myself excited to see what new thoughts and ideas each new run will afford me, rather than being overly focused on my time, pace, heart rate, or distance. I think sometimes it’s nice to let it be about the journey, not the stats.

What’s the best idea you’ve ever had on a run? Or what’s your favorite part of your favorite sport? Tell us about it in the comments!