I ran 4.2 miles Saturday afternoon, a loop course around Westlake. I felt great the whole way, didn’t stop to walk at all and finished in 46 mins. I cannot ever remember having a run like that. I sensed that I could have easily gone another few miles at that pace no problem. That was a new feeling for me as well.
Contrast to last week when I ran 3 miles in the hills of OP, in over 36 minutes. During that run I was walking a lot. In fact, I cannot say I remember going more than 3 miles without walking at least a little, in any run in the last 10 years.
I have always thought my aerobic capacity was the problem. Today really taught me that’s not the case at all. Something clicked, and now I understand that that I can run better by running differently, not just by being fitter. I went out slow, focused on posture and relaxing my legs, and on breathing deeply. I was not thinking about my time or speed ad all. I didn’t have a watch – I just turned on the stopwatch in the car so I could see it when I returned. Part of the time I felt like I was just crawling along, but never had the urge to stop and walk.
That not walking part is a big deal. Today I never got to a place in my head where I felt like I had to force myself to keep running. This has been something that always happens when I run, and inevitably I do stop and walk. It feels great to walk when I do, and I realize how out of breath I am once I start walking. This is the fact that is the root of my problem with running - that I have felt for a long time like I am just not someone who enjoys running- I do it because it is good for me.
Today showed me that this idea was completely wrong.
The feeling I did get today was noticing, “hey I have not felt like walking once!” That occurred to me at about mile 2. I had been spending a lot of time being aware of how I felt. My left leg was stiff the whole way, but my right leg felt as comfortable as if I was just walking in the park. If both of my legs had felt as good as my right, I could have gone all day.
I find that I think a lot when I run. I think I might enjoy it more now that I have something constructive to think about. I’ve been reading a few “new age running” books. That’s wrong - that sounds too derogatory. I really like these books.
Anyway, I kept coming back to my checklist of noticing and correcting my posture – neck long, chin level, chest out, hips tilted forward, feet straight, lean a little, and to the feeling of rolling my hips. And I focused a lot of the sense of lightly lifting my foot up all the way off the ground and just setting it down under me.
OK enough. The bottom line is that today I felt like was going down hill the whole way. When I got back to my car I was full of such a fantastic feeling, that I had just gotten a taste of how it could be. I sprinted the last 400 yards back to the car. Looking forward to the next time. Another first.
