Wednesday 10 February 2010

can you hear the thunder

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 with
It's out there now, with an easterly wind, and thick cloud. I wish it would rain, Just as when it's freezing cold it might as well snow, if it's muggy and thundery it might as well rain.

Many speedygeese ran last night's summer series, and the race was exactly the same course as the previous week. That would be boring if it happened all the time, but on this occasion it was a welcome opportunity to compare times. I felt worse; it felt sultry, but I ran 4 seconds faster. Non-runners would not appreciate the significant extra effort it takes to run 4 seconds faster in 21 minutes! And if the course were not the same I would not have realised it was a "better run". Not that I live or die by my times. But of continuing interest to me is to discern and understand the circumstances which can produce fast or slow times in the short or long term for myself and for others.

Once I wondered "am I obsessed"? My non-running friends, sorry, "friends", have on occasion suggested so. But I met an obsessed runner once, an American female who "had to run" to deal with stuff in her life, and I realised then that I am not obsessed, nor was anyone I had known up until then.

The subject of "compulsive runners" and their attributes and problems is interesting but not relevant to this group, I have decided. The few compulsive runners I have encountered in Canberra do tend to be young women, and seem to enjoy bright but short careers. I am disinclined to encourage them.

"There is no finish line" is eternally true, for us whose primary concern is to be fitter for longer! And for that there has to be some discipline! But not extreme obsession, compulsiveness, or the need to control.

Pre-race intelligence sharing
Mick and Bruce. That blue singlet went past me late in yesterday's 5k. If I had known it was Mick I might not have run so hard before he caught me.