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!