Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I am not a Runner

I have 5 friends, one of them is my boss, who run marathons and I don’t run as much or as fast as them hence the qualifying statement that I am not a runner…

I picked up on this ‘hobby’ last September during our Hawaii trip, since DH was on a business trip and I was solely responsible for taking care of the little ones, I needed a little ‘me’ time and it came every morning at 4:30 am when I walked up to the fitness room overlooking the beach. I knew I will not be able to limit my time to half hour if I walked/ran on the beach so watching the ocean from the tread mill seemed like a very good alternative.
I used to run on treadmills before but they were mostly for exercising purposes I never felt running before but since I came back from Hawaii, I started running outdoors and I love the feel of it, the entire process from getting ready to run, to choosing the music, the breathlessness, the cool down and the leisure shower… but most of all, I like the chance that I get to rattle my thoughts and ideas without speaking a word. If you know me personally, you know it’s impossible for me to keep quiet when I have ideas to share and you absolutely cannot talk when you run and so going back and forth within my thoughts and working my brain cells is the most favorite part of my run… Every time I come back from the run, even before I take my shoes off, I sit in the kitchen with my grocery list pad and write down a bunch of thoughts and more often that not they prove to be very intuitive thoughts…

I don’t run a lot, the entire path is about 1.5 miles and I usually don’t take any detours but it’s a change that I noticed in me recently when running has changed from being a mode of exercise to a means of relaxation and sort of meditation and I wanted to share that…

2 comments:

  1. Well this makes me feel a little guilty for not even going on my exercise WALKS as often as I should have lately. :)

    But the more interesting point is what you say about how running and being in a position where you cannot speak (or blog) causes the ideas to flow all the more intensely.

    Yes indeed, it's good we can have these experiences of 'retreat' or 'meditation,' and later switch back to info-sharing/social mode.

    It does seem that having contrasting activities (just like contrasts/variety in food and art) is important, and one type of time can help you appreciate another type all the more!

    Thanks.

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  2. I've just discovered jogging the past few months! I was never, ever a big runner. But I find now that I look forward to my walk/jog combo exercise when I can do it.
    :0)

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