Any old time!
- soup dragons
The title of this post was going to be "it counts!" because I ran out of time on Thurs and was only able to do 2 miles on the mountain before I had to pick up K from work. What kind of crazy thinking is that, questioning the value of a 2 mi workout just because my standard lately has been 1+ hour runs on the mountain? And then I got to thinking about running with my mom when I was in 7th grade and how each run was meticulously clocked and timed, and it wasn't enough to just go but we were always shooting to beat our prior time. And eventually I quit running with her because the reason I ran was because I enjoyed it, and the metrics approach really killed the fun for me. And I think it was out of this experience that my "you win if you go" philosophy was born. It doesn't matter how far or how fast you go, just that you take the most difficult steps, the ones out the door. My sister has become one of those runners like our mother, with times and metrics. She's a Garmin lover, and I swear she has fun running. Part of her joy is tracking her metrics and competing with herself. So I guess the lesson here is different strokes for different folks, and most importantly honor your own process and what works for you. Be free to exercise however you want any old time.
- soup dragons
The title of this post was going to be "it counts!" because I ran out of time on Thurs and was only able to do 2 miles on the mountain before I had to pick up K from work. What kind of crazy thinking is that, questioning the value of a 2 mi workout just because my standard lately has been 1+ hour runs on the mountain? And then I got to thinking about running with my mom when I was in 7th grade and how each run was meticulously clocked and timed, and it wasn't enough to just go but we were always shooting to beat our prior time. And eventually I quit running with her because the reason I ran was because I enjoyed it, and the metrics approach really killed the fun for me. And I think it was out of this experience that my "you win if you go" philosophy was born. It doesn't matter how far or how fast you go, just that you take the most difficult steps, the ones out the door. My sister has become one of those runners like our mother, with times and metrics. She's a Garmin lover, and I swear she has fun running. Part of her joy is tracking her metrics and competing with herself. So I guess the lesson here is different strokes for different folks, and most importantly honor your own process and what works for you. Be free to exercise however you want any old time.
I totally understand your hatred of the garmin, but I must disagree that I am totally that kind of runner.... I do enjoy it, and there are certainly times that I leave the garmin at home (granted this is usually because the battery is dead and I will admit that I am usually annoyed when I have to do this), but I do feel like I strike a good balance for me as far as this goes... but you have really helped me with that. I do believe that you win if you go, no matter how far or how fast, but I just can't help myself..... I really REALLY like knowing how far and how fast I have gone! Even if it is really slow and not very far. I think part of my motivation to keep going is those really small "wins" like being able to see that I am doing much better than I was a year ago, even if today's run was not such a great one, it is part of what keeps me going, seeing those small improvements. So, yeah, part of the fun is competing with yourself, I just always think I can do better. But that is only PART of the fun and it is really important to keep that in mind and in balance.
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