Not Every Race

Maybe it's spring. The sun. Blue skies. Buds.

I am in running mode. The long winter of indoor training is done for a while as we transition to the great outdoors as primary playground. I am very fortunate to live across the street from a park with a 1.5 mile jogging trail circling the perimeter. Two laps is a 5K. Nice. I have logged enough miles on this trail to know it intimately. When I first started running here it was love/hate. Now, twenty years later, it's all love. It has evolved over the years and now connects to a hilly and challenging trail section that allows a flat run in the park, connecting trails of undulating topography and even a thru a golf course (much to their chagrin). One can do a flat 5K, hour trails runs or the complete circuit in two hours. Nice.

This article adds to the concept of the TJ 30. An unstructured version of a once great event now largely lost and forgotten. I love big races, don't get me wrong, however, there is a time and a place (and a place in the soul) for the beauty of unstructured, low-key, casual (and free) runs. Any run can be a race, but not every race is a run.

Also, here is a link to Joe English's wonderful site talking about the bumps and bruises of the running business. Submitted by VBAer and marathon finisher Tom B and subtitled to include anyone who is training for a marathon. Guess that would be me, again.

Running is freedom. There are few restrictions (other than golf snobs, cars and dogs). It transports us back to a gentler, much simpler time. Maybe even a happier time. Motion, movement, flow. As much as I like the bike, it has a mechanical component that makes it something technological and scientific. Training and testing, measuring and managing, repeating and refining. A tool. Running places the emphasis where it belongs: The body. And as much as Nike, Polar, Oakely, Timex, Apple and Pearl Izumi would have you believe that their products are necessary, all you really need is you.

And a park across the street.

See ya.