Sunday, May 27, 2012

Out for a Run

I went out for my daily 5k but it was such a nice day out I decided to run the 8k course instead. I run outside. No gym treadmill for me, to cheap or too romantic. I run different routes depending on how hard i feel like working. The smallest is a 5.4km  distance, my usual one. I have mapped out distances up to 22k, but I save those for when I really need to run far.

I like to run. It can start hard. I warm up, get my stretches in. But it still takes a kilometer or so for the small aches to disappear. Then it smooths out, I get into a rhythm and let my body take over. It is like breathing, in that you can forget you are doing it at all. My pace is slow and steady, plenty of time to think and watch the activity around me.

On the road you need to be aware of your surroundings. Car drivers that don't look both ways. Sidewalks with  shared with bikes, scooters and walkers. What I don't see a lot of are other runners. Perhaps they are all at the gym. I said roads can be hazardous, the weather cold and icy in the winter, much to hot in the summer. You get rained, covered in grit breathing exhaust at stop lights. Gyms are starting to sound good again.

We are built to run. Our bodies finely tuned by evolution. I run like my ancestors ran, a shared act,going back a million years. Is that romantic or not.

I like feeling and hearing the world around me. In the winter as the snow falls against me melting, cooling my face. The crunch of snow underfoot. My pace checked by ice, slowing through drifts. The feeling I get when I'm done is marvelous. The seasons change around me. I'm part of it in a small way. Spring rain drenches, feeds the land,cleans the streets and prepares for summer. I feel the heat in summer. Water is my focus on those days of July and August. You can not run a kilometer with out it, some do but they pay for it. Then it's back to fall, cooling days, jogging pants instead of shorts, t-shirts give way to hoodies.

I like all the seasons. Each offers unique challenges to body and mind. But i favour cooler temperatures, after all when it get cold I can put on a jacket; when it gets hot there is only so much you can take off before it does you no good. If cornered I would pick that point in spring when the flowers and fruit trees blossom and the air is filled with a thousand scents. You can't get that in a gym.

It is a shame so few people are out there sharing the roads with me. I see so many that could benefit.


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