Sharing a challenge: I finally listen to my body
Welcome back to my series on Sharing a Challenge. My challenge? To train for a half-marathon race at the end of May.
To catch up, or refresh, on my adventures to date:
Sharing a challenge
Motivation
Getting the right fuel for the job
Falling off the rails
Going into survival mode
My body rebels
So, Sunday found me lacing up my runners and heading out for an 8 mile run. I was barely two blocks into my run when my body started up the inner dialogue it now insists we have.
“Are we done yet?“, my body whined.
“Done yet? We have just started!”, I retorted.
Silence. Then,
“My lungs hurt.”
“Yes, but if we keep going the pain goes away,” I patiently explained. Well, sort of patiently.
“My ears hurt.”
“It’s windy,” I sighed. “It will be fine when we turn onto Main Street.”
More silence. Then,
“Boy, is my face ever going to be a mess. My rosacea is totally going to flare up. Yes sir-ee Bob. Huge ugly rashy mess.”‘
Now that was a low blow indeed. It is very true that the flushing from the exertion does cause a rosacea flare. My face has been a mess since I started my training.
I chose not to respond to this, and was blessed with silence for an entire mile. Then,
“Shane sent you that article that said walking is proven to reduce strokes in woman, whereas running has not been proven to.”
“Ya, ya,” I muttered as I focused on making it to at least the next traffic light.
“I don’t like running.”
“Would you please stop?”, I retorted.
“Well, I don’t . I used to, but don’t anymore. It cases me stress.”
“Grrrrrr ….”, I seethed.
“Hey! Did Karen say that she will only do things that cause her peace, not stress?”
“Fine!”, I yelled. “I’m listening. What do you want?”
“I want to walk,” my body said matter of factly. “Let’s walk. We can still do the entire 8 miles, and I promise we’ll power walk, but seriously, let’s walk. I like walking.”
So, we walked. Together my body and I did 8.5 miles (13.7 km) in 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 57 seconds. We never slowed down, and we didn’t even get tired until the last mile.
And along the way we discovered several things:
- a bike path along the river we never knew existed, so we switched to it
- a beautiful cardinal singing to find a mate
- two pretty pussy cats sunning themselves on a shed roof
- people fishing
- kids playing baseball
- and the cutest little house I had never seen before
When I got home, I logged into the race site. Turns out I am allowed to walk the half-marathon. So, I switched my registration to a walk race instead of a run race.
My body is very happy now. So am I.
WE are happy.
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I like to run too, sometimes – but I know what is best for me, so I tend to run for short bursts when the mood strikes when I’m out for a walk. I walk a lot (with my dog, and at lunch – yesterday, I walked 2 hours 20 minutes, the day before I walked the same, the day before that, 2 hours, and so on…) and it is my “me” time away from the craziness.
It is my time to think about my “evil plans”.
And it is something I look forward to doing, because I know it’s not going to hurt during and after!
Ahhh. Much more civilized. Have I told you before that I gave up running because the ice kept sloshing out of my cocktail glass?
Seriously, though, you’re right. There is so much more to see at a slower pace, and I love that you are still going to meet your goal in a way that honors the part of you that is doing the heavy lifting to get you there!
@Brett – Yep, I think that I will get a hankering to run every once in awhile and then just do it. And I like you, I walk at every opportunity anyway, even outside my ‘training’ walks.
@Betsy – bwhahahahahahahaha … you are too funny. It’s 6:30 a.m. and I have already had a laugh; thanks! I think one of the reasons why I love walking so much is that I am an observer, and like you said there is so much more to see at a slower pace.
Thank you for the view of your inner dialogue. It’s helped me work some things out for myself. I finally lost a bunch of weight and started a few bursts of running during my dog walking. So far the body/mind, especially the knees, are both happy. There’s a lot to this listening to the body!
@Lori – fantastic! This inner dialogue is expanding to other aspects of my life. This Friday’s post will be on food. Off for my 9 mile training walk
Hope you have/had a great walk!
People ask me why I park so far away from the office at work. Even if I’m in early, I park almost as far away as possible.
First, it means I don’t have to think about where my car is located at the end of a long day (this helps as my brain gets older!)
Second, I get a free, one-mile walk round trip each day. This is good for me on the way out because it is 1/2 mile uphill, all the way – plus, I clear my thoughts on the way to the car.
@Brett – when I lived downtown I walked everywhere. Groceries, dining out, theatre, you name it. This is much harder living in suburbia, so I have to deliberately set aside time just to walk. And yes, it is excellent for clearing one’s thoughts.