On I went, out of the wood, passing the man leading without knowing I was going to do so. Flip-flap, flip-flap, jog-trot, jog-trot, curnchslap-crunchslap, across the middle of a broad field again, rhythmically running in my greyhound effortless fashion, knowing I had won the race though it wasn't half over, won it if I wanted it, could go on for ten or fifteen or twenty miles if I had to and drop dead at the finish of it, which would be the same, in the end, as living an honest life like the governor wanted me to. -Alan Sillitoe, "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I only went running yesterday because I knew you'd be reading this.

Things I did yesterday morning to procrastinate:
-caught up on facebook, twitter; contemplated logging into myspace and friendster, even;
-answered most of my work emails, including setting up Apple's Mail program to check my office mail;
-filed my income tax;
-read almost all of the stories on CNN and the NYTimes;
-prepared dinner for tonight;
-officially registered for the NYCM ("Congratulations! You have received guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2010");
-officially registered for the 2010 Broad Street Run;
-completed the Moscow job tier on Mafia Wars via facebook;
-and so on.

Partly I'm tired and lethargic - if I don't get out the door early for a run, the chances of me doing it decrease through the day.  Partly I'm overwhelmed with work and don't even know where to begin.  My day seems to begin with a run, so if I put off the run... my day hasn't started yet, in a perverse mind trick.

Partly I had a rough week, training-wise, last week, and I needed a rest day - but I can't run today (teaching from 9am-6:45pm, which means being at the office from about 8-7:30), so I had to get something in yesterday.  That something was a miserable 3.5m on the treadmill, made miserable less by my body's lack of cooperation or any physical problems than by my own inability to just concentrate and pound it out.  I walked more than I'd care to admit, checking my email and catching up on a few personal emails while on the treadmill.  (I'm sorry, Dr. Drew, you know I love you, but if you can read while on the treadmill, you're not exercising hard enough.)

Today's rest is lovely.
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2 comments:

  1. njmWed Feb 17, 09:00:00 PM EST

    Congrats on getting into NYC! You deserve it after all the races you had to run! I entered the lottery. Here's hoping...

    Happy rest day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. TWed Feb 17, 09:02:00 PM EST

    Oh, yay! I have my fingers crossed on the lottery for you. Now back to "resting" - 10 hours in the office today with more prepping and grading to do tonight. Ugh.

    ReplyDelete

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