All you need is your body and a good pair of shoes. You don't have to drive anywhere to run. You can utilize any time you can afford right into exercise. There's no minimum or maximum of time you need to commit. Only have 15 minutes? Great, run a mile. Running can be a filler in between other work-outs, or it can be the main show. Right now it's the main show for me and I sprinkle in CrossFit where I can.
Running can be seasonal like the weather. I prefer to run outside over the treadmill. I can only count a dozen times I've used a treadmill (usually during business travel). Running is so mentally tied to environment for me. I need to feel the sun on my skin, the wind brushing past my body, and the sounds around me (both city and nature). I truly use all 5 senses when I run.
You can measure in distance or time. Pick you poison.
Personally I don't' care too much about my time. It was exciting to beat my 5K time this year, but consistency and the miles were much more important to me. That's why I've set my new goal on a 10K the last weekend in October. It's a night run for charity with headlamps.
This will be my longest distance to date and I'm a little nervous! While Tough Mudder was 10 miles, you don't run the whole time. I don't count it as a "running focused" race because it's more about overall endurance of the body and mind. And teamwork.
To train for the 10K, I'm doing an unofficial 5 week program. Starting at 2 miles and progressing to 6 miles (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). The 2-3 mile range comes easy to me now. But pushing past that will be challenging for sure. I've also been using the jogging stroller pushing Little P on my runs when I can (50lbs of resistance!) I figure the cross-training will make it easier to run without a stroller when the time comes.
Running is a solo activity. It's all on you. You can pick a stranger as a pacer or someone to beat, but for the most part, it's you against yourself. You can run with a team, but I never found that to work well for me. I worry more about what others are thinking about me rather than focusing on the run itself.
A week after the 10K, I've also signed up for my very first Spartan Race. It's a Sprint (3-5 miles and ~20 obstacles). Highly concentrated compared to Tough Mudder, so I feel it will be more of an energy burst than an endurance test.
Here's to a happy and healthy fall and winter to all my fitness friends. And to everyone else, you better get moving! :-)
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| Running the High Line @NYC with my husband |
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| Running with some strangers as part of a hotel run club (business trip) @Los Angeles |
