Running and Being
I press the start button on my treadmill, set my speed, and begin running. For the next hour, this is my time.
A few feet behind me and on the other side of the glass pocket doors, my dogs sit in silence and stare. They will remain there until I am finished, knowing their reward will involve licking my sweaty legs. Their morning walk will follow. For now, nothing they can do will keep me from my time.
For almost as long as I can remember, running has been My Time. As a kid, I might take off and run the neighborhood streets, race the school bus home from school, or ask my teacher if I could go run laps during the middle of class, all to quiet my mind. I am nearing 68 years on this planet and the only thing I have found that quiets my mind is running. It has been a simple solution to my busy mind that for the life of me never leaves me alone.
Unfortunately, time has relegated me to running just every third day. Something I used to do every day to the tune of sixty miles a week now takes me two additional days to recover from. I no longer just lace up my shoes and head out the front door. I have to follow a very strict program if my one-hour run is to be enjoyed.
On run days, I do a thirty minute dynamic warm up designed to open up and loosen my hips. It’s followed by a five minute fast walk before I begin running. I now only run on a treadmill so that each foot strike is on the exact same surface which frees me up from worrying about potholes, sprinkler heads, rocks, or dog shit. The consistency also keeps my hips and pelvis better aligned which in turn improves my running posture. Add it all up, I run smoother, more relaxed, and suffer fewer negative side effects. The best part, I zone out and forget the world I live in.
Treadmill running might sound boring, which is probably why most people who run on one make sure to have music playing in the ear buds they’re wearing. Not me. Instead, for one hour, I will repeat some strange mantra over and over. It might be a series of numbers I see on the console. If the distance reads 2.63 miles, I will repeat 2.63 over and over until I check my distance again. If it reads 428 calories burned, I will repeat that number like I am The Rain Man.
However, since the bright numbers on the console annoy me, I often cover it with a towel. On these days, a song will pop into my head and I will repeat a line from it until the run ends. Today, I kept repeating, “You make a grown man cry,” from the Rolling Stones song, “Start Me Up.” Don’t ask me why that song popped into my head because I haven’t a clue.
The only thing I can tell you is that when my hour was up, I was completely relaxed. My head was clear from all the bullshit that normally bounces around inside it the other 23 hours. It was also a one hour break from any pain signals, something that I also experience the rest of most days.
Please don’t advise me to walk every day and tell me it is better for me at my age. I know my body better than you and walking is physically harder and emotionally more demanding on me. My brain never shuts off and trying to block off the stiffness and pain in my spine is impossible. Doctors say it has something to do with having to hold myself up erect while the muscles along my spine remain tensed up. Running releases that physical tension in large part because of a greater blood flow.
There is also no need to recommend other forms of exercise to me. Four shoulder surgeries rule out swimming laps, pinched nerves in my arms and hands make riding any type of bike, including an exercise bike, miserable, and a rowing machine requires hands that can maintain their grip on the row bars.
On the days I do not run, I have my must-do exercises. The day after I run is devoted to a lot of little and annoyingly painful exercises to keep my hips and pelvis in alignment. Lateral walking with exercise bands on my feet are designed to prevent my feet from turning outward while making sure the tiniest of muscles in my hips burn like hell. More hip and pelvic work follows with clamshells, banded glute bridges, hip adduction and abduction, and finally single leg raises. Then it is on to quad, hamstring, and calf work. When I finish, I test to see if my legs are the same length. If they are off, I reset them and then take the dogs for their walks.
The following day, I emphasize core stabilizing exercises before I do a couple of upper back exercises and pushups. Stretching follows and then it is time for the dogs to get exercise.
(Tim Forkes)
I might be able to get away without these tedious exercises if I didn’t love what running does for me. However, that singular hour of rhythmic nothingness is my drug of choice and I do what I have to in order to get a good hit every three days.
A benefit of being able to run at my age is I know and accept I will never be running times so fast I decide to add to the PR’s from my racing days that I have tattooed on my left shoulder. My competitive days are over and since I run inside my home, I am not encountering other runners out and about and testing my legs against guys half my age.
My runs are no longer planned out months in advance and do not include track sessions, hill repeats, long runs, and races. I don’t even tell myself to run as well or better than I did three days prior. Getting ready for a run, I assess how I feel, tell myself to set the treadmill at a certain pace and go. If I am laboring too much, I slow down the speed setting and if I feel better than usual, I increase the pace.
There are many physical perks that come from running, just like with any other form of exercise, but for me, the greatest perk is what it does for my state of mind. The simplicity of running reminds me of the importance of living a simple life.
Losing all thought during a run tells me to quit thinking about so much crap that has either already happened, has not happened yet, or is totally out of my control. I just have to appreciate how running makes me feel alive and free of the weight of the world, most of which I just need to release.
My hour ends and I cool down with a five minute walk. When I am finished, the dogs sit next to one another waiting for their chance to score some salty licks. Like me, they are creatures of routine and know their licking will be followed up with their walk in a nearby park. Since it was a run day, there is also a very good chance we will all enjoy some serious nap time mid-day.
When we finish our walk, it’s usually between 8:30 and 9:00 in the morning. There is still an entire day to be enjoyed. Because of my run, I will enjoy the after run effect. It’s not the extra calories the body burns for hours after a run, but the extra inner peace that comes from running. I will be more patient with people. I will also see the best in people, places, and things, and it will keep me motivated to keep up with the tiny exercises I must employ if I want to continue running. By afternoon, I will begin looking forward to my next run in three days.
Until then, when I catch myself thinking about the state of the world, the price of gas, or how to solve homelessness, I will remind myself how great it felt to run today.
Instead of becoming depressed over what might happen to this planet in the future, I will wonder about how I will feel on my next run. I will scour the internet for deals on running shoes instead of reading headlines. I will work to maintain a more Zen-like state of mind knowing that emptying my mind for an hour every third day does me every bit of good as the cardiovascular benefits running provides. I won’t just be more at peace, I will BE.
Jim is a life long resident of California and retired school teacher with 30 years in public education. Jim earned his BA in History from CSU Chico in 1981 and his MA in Education from Azusa Pacific University in 1994. He is also the author of Teaching The Teacher: Lessons Learned From Teaching. Jim considers himself an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any political party, group, or individual who looks to profit off of hypocrisy. When he is not pointing out the conflicting words and actions of our leaders, the NFL commissioner, or humans in general, he can be found riding his bike for hours on end while pondering his next article. Jim recently moved to Camarillo, CA after being convinced to join the witness protection program.