Monday, August 13, 2007
I have been running on and off most of my life. I have learned a thing or two about my body and how it reacts. Once I was over 30 years old, I found my belly need the occasional discipline of running to keep it from expanding, if you know what I mean. I found that if I ran twice a week, it got easier, but if I ran only once a week, it felt like starting over again each week, as if I had not been getting in shape from my previous runs.
Recently I read about two men who ran every day 55 miles each day for over 100 days. They ran across the Sahara desert. This made me realize that my body is capable of much more than I had ever thought. These men's bodies repaired themselves while they were running! So a few days ago I started running a little. Once again I need some weight control. But instead of running my distance and waiting three days to do it again, I've been running every day.
What I have found is that in the past my body had made little complaints to fool me into thinking I could not do much, that I would need to recuperate for several days.
I would worry about my knees, my heart, my muscles, my tendons. Now I take a half an aspirin just before I go (at my age of 46 I think perhaps I need some startup insurance). And yes if my knee feels a bit tight, I will slow to a walk for a few minutes. But I have found that the idea that my body could maintain itself just fine without a break of several days makes it much easier for me to run and gives my body fewer excuses. I am running the same distance as I would have if I'd been running only twice a week; it is a modest distance, yet one that is not terribly easy for me, perhaps about a mile and a half.
Monday, August 13, 2007
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