The Longish Run

This morning I went for a longer run than usual. But context first. Last night I took one of my two older kids to their baseball practice. The oldest stayed behind at home giving me the “I have too much homework” as his excuse.

After arriving to practice, I stayed in the car listening to Emeli Sande, my new love (sorry Mariah Carey). When I turned the engine off the car headlights remained on. I assumed they’d turn themselves off automatically in a few minutes as it usually happens, but after a while that seemed a bit long I decided to turn them off myself.

A song or two later I went out of the car to the ball park where my son was having practice. When it was over we went back to the car to head home, but it didn’t start. Dead battery, I assumed. I asked a couple of dads from the team who were still at the parking lot if they had jumpstart cables to which the second one said yes. We gave it a try to no avail. The battery had lost its charge so badly that the car was completely dead. No lights of any kind were on, inside or out. Not even a faint sound came out of it at the turn of the key. Another car’s battery was not going to cut to jumpstart mine. We left the car in the parking lot and went home with a fellow baseball dad. God bless him!

I told my wife I’d run to her work in the morning to pick up our other car and head down to rescue the dead one via a tow truck because I thought it must have been something worse than a dead battery. However, I said to myself “why not run to where the car is?”

I got on google maps and from point A to point B it was almost seven miles. Certainly a longer run than the five milers I’ve been doing twice a week lately, but not technically a long run. Long runs usually go up to and beyond the 8 mile mark or such I read somewhere.

So this morning I ran almost 7 miles, 6.9 to be exact. Not a bad jump from five. Progress has been slow since I decided that I needed to get back in shape during the summer and running was the “easiest” thing that came to mind. Was I in for a run!

I started running from north Fairfax City to Burke crossing through FHS where our other car was parked. The first temptation hit me immediately after I spotted the car, “This is a longish run, Carlos. Why not go on the car? Just stop and get in! You’ll get there faster!” What makes this temptation more difficult to withstand is that after thinking about leaving the keys of this other car behind, I ended up bringing them with me.

As I approach the car, I notice that it is looking at me dead in the eye. The moment I pass it by it whispers my name, but I pretended not to listen. I decide once the car is behind me that there’s no turning back. The run must go on.

I used to run a lot a long time ago, but it was a different kind of running... on the basketball court. Basketball is my default sport. Nothing gives me more pleasure (or at least used to) than duking it out down in the post and grabbing some rebounds or shooting some lay ups. I remember fondly my HS days of basketball every single day. Those days are long gone. While I still love basketball I don’t play a decent game anymore. It’s a pretty rough and fast sport so going in you need to know the high risk for injury the game affords. You may leave an ankle on the court or a knee or a something worse. And I’m mindful of that. Just remembering the pain of a good ankle twist is deterrent enough for me at this point in life. I know the same thing applies to running although not necessarily for the same reasons as it would in basketball. So again, the “easiest” thing I could think of to get back in shape was running.

If I’m doing a short run not too many things creep into my mind, but during and after my longish run this morning several thoughts did come to mind. I’ll state them here as a matter of reflection for my own sake.

The first one is that running alone sucks. Very much. When you run alone you have to push yourself harder to finish the run no matter how long or short the distance happens to be. It also becomes harder to keep the same pace. You run faster at some points especially on downhill slopes. While they may be tricky, every runner loves them. At other points you hit the uphill slopes. I’m not thrilled about them. They are a whole lot easier to run when in company.

Running in groups creates a synergy where each runner feeds off the other. The pack helps everyone to maintain a fairly decent and constant pace so that the group as a unit has its own pace. In a group, runners can take turns as pace setters whereas runners by themselves alone will not accomplish that. This is easy to see in long distance runs like marathons, for example, or cycling events. The pack has a life of its own and all in it know how that feels. While breaking away from the pack is for the one who wants the win the most and definitely not for the faint of heart, it comes at the cost of great exertion and risk.

Secondly, a longish run will make you aware of how big a battle you’re waging against yourself, a battle that in the end is more emotional than physical. At times your knees feel the grind of the run. At times your feet. At times your toes. At times your lungs want to explode. Other times your head. Pray this doesn’t happen all at once! More often than not you’re having a conversation with yourself. Visually, you're looking for markers on the road that let you know you’re getting closer to wherever your finish line is. You’re telling yourself “you’re getting closer, don’t let up.”

On the longish lone run, you’re your only and worst enemy, but if you’re in good physical shape it will help you emotionally also. Somebody said somewhere that running is 90% mental so by having good physical conditioning your mind won’t play games with you as much, but if you’re in poor shape your mind will hammer down your will to run from every angle imaginable. If you set out to try a longish run with a subpar physical condition you’ll have a recipe for a very shortish run. Just take a walk and avoid the embarrassment.

Thirdly, unless you have some sort of G.I. complex (nothing wrong with that btw) don’t run with a backpack on! It’s dead weight you don’t need. The rule of thumb is the longer the run the lighter run. After a few miles, your own weight alone will take care of slowing you down enough.

Fourth, the more you run the more you’ll want to run. It is what it is. In some kind of weird way, your own system demands that you feed the need to run consistently and continue what you started to get in shape. It maybe compared to a hunger that is more extreme in some than in others. The psychological effect running will have on you, if taken on seriously, will be fascinating. A run here and there will not do. You will be compelled to feed “the beast”.

At this point in my decision to get back in shape I’m not letting more than a couple days go by before a run, usually a five miler. This isn’t hardcore running by any means, just what I can handle right now and I’m enjoying it.

Lastly, get your run groove on with a loaded mp3 player. Music makes a whole lot of difference while working out. The right song at that particular moment will get you up the hump in such a way that you won’t notice how truly difficult finishing the run was. Thank God for good music on longish (or shortish) runs!