An Easier Run

Since the start of the year I have been running regularly. Yesterday I went for a run and I found it easiser than other runs. It might be thanks to the audiobook, on the one hand, and to consistent training on the other. I am not pushing hard. The training program is a 5k programme over twelve weeks. I don't need twelve weeks for this. I was a runner before. I don't care about beating distance records or other things.

My primary goal is not to write "I didn't feel my shin splints today" or "This run really hurt". I want to run, without pushing my body to breaking point. I also want to run and feel comfortable. I want to allow my body the time to adapt to the sport, rather than pushing too far, too fast. If and when I can run five kilometres comfortably my one hour walks will take half an hour and my one and a half hour walks could take fourty five minutes. It's not that I don't like my long walks. It's that I want to feel that my fitness is improving rather than stagnating.

Lifehacker currently has an article about "walk score and quality of life. I don't like that there are so many roads with people who show apathy to cyclists and people walking by the side of the road. I walk into fields and I get thanked. I don't walk into the fields out of curiousity. I walk into the fields out of fear and fatigue of cars skimming by me too fast. That's part of what motivates me to run. Running is a sport where you can easily get away from cars.

I don't need to take the car to go for a run, and I don't need to buy anything extra for the scooter or car, if I want to run elsewhere. Although everything seems to indicate that the pandemic is over I am not convinced, so I prefer to run outdoors, away from people, to be safe. I value my health, and I enjoy walking and running locally. The pandemic has shaped how I think of sports, and which sports I would consider doing.