Running to End on a Round Number

On Monday I went for a run. When I stopped the tracker on the Apple Watch and the Garmin watch I noticed the same number. 9.99km. If I had run just one more straight, or one more curve of the track I would have had a 10km run. I couldn’t restart the tracker to get that round number since it was too late.

Today someone did run extra, just to round up, and I suspect that if I had seen 9.99km I would have run that extra 100m. One hundred meters is nothing. It’s a few more seconds of running.

Yesterday I would have added an extra loop. I saw a post, and I was going to practice the Japanese change of direction but it was raining so when I pushed off with my right foot I fell forward as the shoe lost traction and I hit the pavement with my knees and hands. Luckily I was okay.

I wasn’t aiming to run a specific distance. I was playing, experimenting with a new skill. I forgot that the floor was wet with rain, and that the cobbles could slip.

This morning I wore trail running shoes to deal with the wet surfaces. It was the right decision.

In the past I did run to round a number, and if I’m doing a session then I will run to the session’s requirements, but if I’m running for fun, or the session is about pace, or distance during intervals then I will work to those goals, but rounding isn’t critical.

Of course, if I had rounded to ten kilometres with the Apple watch I would have got a badge for the effort.

I am interested in reaching my yearly goal. It went from 750km to 800km, and now it has climbed to 1000km in a single year. compared to my yearly walking, hiking distances and cycling this not far, but when you consider that in December last year I couldn’t run due to knee pain, this is a huge achievement. I wanted to reach “social run” comfort level, and I did.

And finally it is almost certain that I will see that I’m close to a milestone distance and I will run for it, but recently I have been happy just to complete the training session, and now the recovery sessions that Runna recommends.