So, Thursdays run (I'm still a little behind) was a nice run. I met my last MPH advisee downtown at Our Daily Bread/Christopher's Place where I still occasionally meet up with the Back on My Feet team to run. My advisee is someone whom I know because of Back on My Feet. It is not typical to meet advisees at 5:30 in the morning, but since my advisee is actually a better runner than I am, a run from Our Daily Bread to the traffic circle in Harbor East, around the promenade, to the Under Armour offices and back for a nice 7.9 was a great way to carry on a conversation about her future as she approaches finishing her MPH capstone.
7.9 miles from my last location takes me from the western edge of Cambridge, OH, past New Concord, Ohio. No Catholic churches along the 7.9 mile stretch us US 22/US 40 that runs from Cambridge to where I am now on my virtual pilgrimage. Instead, if I were actually running along I would just be enjoying the way between small towns in southern Ohio.
My advisee and I talked about her future for most of the run. It was cold but each of us was dressed with enough layers to be comfortable and despite spending a good bit of the run on the promenade by the Harbor there was no appreciable wind.
At the end, we were discussing how much effort it takes to get psyched up for each run. I answered that it doesn't take much effort for me. There are particular workouts--a really challenging tempo run or a really challenging track workout or a very hot (or very cold) long distance run. Any of these might take some extra effort. In contrast, my advisee commented that she often has to work on getting herself psyched for a workout. It is interesting because she has historically been a better runner than I am. Better PR's at most if not all distances. But, despite being more than a decade my junior, she also has run more than I have. Or run for more years continuously than I have. So maybe, it is something that a person doesn't look forward to quite as much or in the same way.
I realized that running is so much more than just a workout for me. It is social--thus the multitasking advisor-advisee 7.9 mile run at 5:30 AM. It is spiritual--tied to how I think about my relationship with something bigger and how spending time while running thinking about what those bigger things might be. There are goals--ever since completing my first half marathon that I had to register for back in 2009, I have not gone more than 6 months without some type of race. This year, running is part of an overall structured experience for the year--my virtual pilgrimage. That is both spiritual and creative. I write. I tie things together. I connect the dots.
So, on Thursday specifically I was multitasking and running serves a multitasking purpose in my life in general at this time.
7.9 miles from my last location takes me from the western edge of Cambridge, OH, past New Concord, Ohio. No Catholic churches along the 7.9 mile stretch us US 22/US 40 that runs from Cambridge to where I am now on my virtual pilgrimage. Instead, if I were actually running along I would just be enjoying the way between small towns in southern Ohio.
My advisee and I talked about her future for most of the run. It was cold but each of us was dressed with enough layers to be comfortable and despite spending a good bit of the run on the promenade by the Harbor there was no appreciable wind.
At the end, we were discussing how much effort it takes to get psyched up for each run. I answered that it doesn't take much effort for me. There are particular workouts--a really challenging tempo run or a really challenging track workout or a very hot (or very cold) long distance run. Any of these might take some extra effort. In contrast, my advisee commented that she often has to work on getting herself psyched for a workout. It is interesting because she has historically been a better runner than I am. Better PR's at most if not all distances. But, despite being more than a decade my junior, she also has run more than I have. Or run for more years continuously than I have. So maybe, it is something that a person doesn't look forward to quite as much or in the same way.
I realized that running is so much more than just a workout for me. It is social--thus the multitasking advisor-advisee 7.9 mile run at 5:30 AM. It is spiritual--tied to how I think about my relationship with something bigger and how spending time while running thinking about what those bigger things might be. There are goals--ever since completing my first half marathon that I had to register for back in 2009, I have not gone more than 6 months without some type of race. This year, running is part of an overall structured experience for the year--my virtual pilgrimage. That is both spiritual and creative. I write. I tie things together. I connect the dots.
So, on Thursday specifically I was multitasking and running serves a multitasking purpose in my life in general at this time.
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