Running With a Purpose
October 16, 2007 by annietoth
Last night I went for a run. It was the first time I’d run since the marathon. I didn’t plan in advance to go for a run, and I certainly didn’t want to — it was late and dark out, and I really just wanted to go to bed.
So why did I go? Well, I was working late in the lab and accidentally locked my keys in the room where my lab bench is located.The key to my bike lock was with those keys, so my mode of transportation home was no longer an option. What an idiot!
I could have walked home but it was already almost 11:00 and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible. I wanted to go to bed so I could get up early the next day for another day of cross-training, presentations, and lab work.
I just so happened to have been wearing some running shoes and a pair of sweat pants, so I ran — a whole two miles, in the dark and the cold. I got hot fast. I was tired. My belly was full. It sucked.
Moral of the story: Running with a practical purpose is not fun. Running for the sheer enjoyment of the activity is one of life’s greatest joys.
I rather enjoy running to get somewhere. For a long time it was the only running I ever did — I’d run if my bike got a flat and I didn’t have time to fix it, or something similar.
I wouldn’t run hard — perhaps that is the difference. Just an easy run (sometimes dragging a dead bike along with me). Better than not moving. Faster than walking.
I recall once I was heading out to Carp to do water quality monitoring at the state beach. The bike got a flat around Ortega hill. I figured I’d get there faster if I ran than if I patched the tire, waited for it to dry, pumped it up and biked. So I ran. It happened to be the day of the “3 Day Avon Breast Cancer walk” — so as I trotted past hordes of walkers I got yelled at “Slow down — it’s supposed to be a walk.”
It didn’t occur to any of them that I might just be using running as a mode of transport. They saw their walk as an unnatural activity. I thought that kind of sad. We evolved to run, and we evolved to run purposely.
Joy in running can be found even if you have a purpose (though it’s a lot harder to find it if you have a tummy-ache).
I ran “practically” once when, out on the pier walking with the family, a very overweight man had a serious heart attack in the driver’s seat of his car, pretty much right next to us. I managed to get the car stopped, and I and another guy got him out onto a flat surface. We both knew CPR, so he started and I ran to the nearest phone (quite quickly, sub-60 400 pace or so) — then ran back to help with the CPR. The paramedics arrived within two-three minutes, amazingly quickly.
I called Cottage the next day, but I wasn’t a relative and they wouldn’t tell me anything. I never learned whether he survived or not.
How much did you train when you were a kid? I like to run and never really trained, but it seems boring to me. I am 13.
Hi Mia,
I didn’t run at all until I was 14. Then, as a freshman in high school, my best friend encouraged me to do so. She was a really good runner, and a star freshman on the team. Part of running for me at that time (and still) was being with friends. Some of my best memories are from high school cross country and track, going to meets and pasta parties and having fun after school at practice. It was never boring! Now that I’m older I tend to run more by myself, but still do a great deal of running with others, like my husband Carl. It is a time for us to be together, to talk and enjoy the outdoors. So, I still don’t think it’s boring.
Thanks for reading!
Annie
Hi Mia,
When I was 15 I started running to school in the mornings. I enjoyed that — it gave me a chance to think.
When I was 16 I was forcibly inducted into my high school’s track team as a miler. I disliked that. The training was painful, the races even worse. Not boring, but unpleasant.
When I was ~45 I found I liked to race longer distances. The pace isn’t as fast, and it’s not painful. It does require an intense concentration to do well though. I become very aware of my body, there is no room in the mind for boredom. Very much “in the moment” to use a term from yoga.
Training for a marathon was very different from training for a mile. There’s a lot of easy running involved — that gives me a chance to think; I get many ideas when running. It also gives me a chance to look at the scenery — I live in a beautiful place, between the mountains and the sea.
There are intense runs too, not painfully fast though. I don’t have a chance to either think or get bored.
Sometimes I run with friends. On an easy run we’re all chatting together, teasing one another. On an intense run I don’t talk to the person next to me, but there’s a shared sense of camaraderie.
If you find training boring perhaps you are training for the wrong kind of running. That was my experience. I hated training to run miles, but I love training to run half-marathons. Experiment. Find a friend to run with. Choose a different and more beautiful course.
Or try something like soccer — something that involves a lot of running but has a different type of training — perhaps you’d like it more.
Thank you both, i do play soccer and horse ride, so i guess thats kind of training. Thanks again for the advice!!!
Mia