A Surprisingly Zen Run

To be honest, when I woke up yesterday, I did not feel like running. I creaked out of bed, and found out just how tight my calves were as I walked to the bathroom. I found out how sore my hamstrings were on the way up and down the stairs of my three story one bedroom apartment. 

Sometimes I love my apartment. Sometimes not so much. 

But, I had a 15 mile run on the docket for the day, and if I want to be ready for a 50k in three weeks, this was my real shot at a longer run. I downed one cup of coffee while eating my breakfast (Ezekiel 4:9 toast with peanut butter and avocado), made another cup to drink while prepping, and changed into my running clothes that I had, for a wonder, laid out the night before. 

On the drive out, I thought about my approach for the day. For this particular run, a Twin Cities Classic out at Afton State Park, I usually have a point where I try to pick up the pace a little. Often that’s either the uphills or the flat sections, but sometimes I up the pace and effort level at the end as well. Feeling as I did this day, though, I knew that was a recipe for a slow time and even more soreness the next day. 

I decided on three rules: 

1. No looking at the pace on my watch (a bad habit I have).
2. No pushing the pace, but no letting up either. 
3. Take whatever the trail gives me. 

As I thought about it, this fit with a book I have: “Zen and the Art of Running.” I have never read it through, but there are a lot of little pieces of advice in there (such as taking what comes without judgment). 

With these three rules/goals in mind, what had promised to be a difficult, mental challenge of a run turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable. My legs never felt great, but they never felt that bad or that tired. Despite constant temptation, I never looked at the pace (average or current) through the whole run. And taking what the trail and my body gave me turned out to be an enjoyable experience. 

There are downsides. I was so contained within myself that I didn’t take any pictures. I didn’t stop, either, so that would have been a challenge. I may have been less congenial than I often am on the trails. If you saw me, please don’t take offense, I was just inside my own head. 

But in the end, I finished the run in a surprisingly decent time (my third fastest pace for this loop), and as I write this, after a brief run on Sunday, my legs feel solid despite adding four miles to my weekly mileage this past week. 

Now I just have to contemplate the equivalent of four of those loops in a row.