Thursday, September 18, 2003

Run, Elder, Run

No, my fantasy of the masses gathering in the streets under my balcony, chanting, pumping their fists in the air, demanding that I throw my hat into the political ring has not become a reality. Yet.

Actually I'm training for the annual James Page Blubber Run a.k.a. The Frank Pastore Classic, which will take place this Saturday in downtown Minneapolis. Training is probably not really the right word for it since we're only talking about a 5k here, but if you run as often as I do it seems like a grueling regime.

Last week I strapped on the sneakers and hit the road for the first time in nearly two years. I keep in pretty decent shape by playing hockey, biking, roller blading, and almost daily walks but running is a different animal. The first couple of times I go out are usually brutal as I struggle to discover a sustainable pace and feel pain in areas that I'm not accustomed to. For me it's the knees. For whatever reason running seems to bring out the worst in my knees at least when I first take it up again.

After getting out twice last week, I've managed to sneak in three jaunts so far this week and I'm feeling progressively better with each run. The knees are becoming a little less painful each time and I'm finding it easier to get into my "zone". Every time I start running again after an extended break I despise it initially and wonder why the hell I'm punishing my body. But after I reach the point where I can hit the zone and put it on cruise control I really enjoy it.

I've also found that what you listen to while you run can help or hinder you. Talk radio is okay. When it's good you can lose yourself in the discussion and time and the miles fly by. Commercials are a big distraction though and I don't like listening to stations that always have to tell you what time it is. When I run I want to know what time it is when I start and when I finish. In between I don't want to know. Too much to think about. The less I'm actually thinking about running itself, the better I run.

Music is better. And the best music for me is classical and jazz. Long songs that draw you in slowly and hold your attention. Yesterday I was cruising along listening to a little Ludwig van interspersed with some classic Miles Davis. I was living in the zone. The advantage to the lengthier tracks is that you don't consciously track your time as you tend to do with shorter ones. If I listen to a collection of three plus minute songs I am too aware of how many I've heard or what point I'm at on the album and thus I know how long I've been running. Which, as I've mentioned before is not a good thing.

It remains to be seen whether I'll be able to recapture these all too fleeting moments of running Zen on Saturday. I'll be with friends and so there will be no music for me to zone on. And the large crowd and short race will make pacing difficult at best. Finally the most critical question to the success of a Blubber Run has yet to be answered:

Are we stopping and having a beer at the halfway point?

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