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Let’s Talk about Track Etiquette
This morning’s workout was a little tempo run at the local high school track. It was one of those perfect mornings – already hot enough that my muscles were warmed up before I started, but just this side of too hot. (And too-hot is definitely bound to happen later today.) Running at the track has a special appeal to me (as long as I don’t overdo it). Every time I’m there, I’m reminded, whether consciously or subconsciously, of being in the 7th grade. In 7th grade, you see, I ran on the track team for the first time, and it was then that I learned the proper etiquette of running…
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Everyone Gets a Trophy
Today, in the “Everyone Gets a Trophy” society that is often condescendingly critiqued, I get nervous about falling victim to the entitlement mentality. “Doesn’t this teach kids that they don’t have to try that hard?” we say. “This is why young people these days don’t know how to work hard!” “Won’t they feel entitled to disproportionate success despite having put in less effort than their peers?” Uh… I don’t know. I’m not really trying to take a stab at answering those major psychological questions. But they’re good questions worth asking. I, who barely qualify as a Millenial on the cusp of having been a Gen-X-er, don’t see myself as…
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Races: Traverse City Bayshore Half Marathon
It’s Monday afternoon, Memorial Day, and although I’ve just now begun to move on to those tedious and slightly depressing “end of the weekend” chores… (you know – laundry, groceries, making a decision about whether to vacuum or try to keep “not seeing” the tumbleweeds of dog fur for another few days), I am nevertheless still basking in the happy glow of what was a really phenomenal race weekend. I almost didn’t get a spot in the Traverse City Track Club’s Bayshore Half Marathon. By the time I got wind of the race, it had already filled to capacity. I was listening to the Runner’s World podcast and editor,…
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Race Review: Lexington’s Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon 2017
Once again after a destination race weekend, I’m feeling inspired and excited to be a runner, and I’m itching to share my experience from Lexington, Kentucky’s Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon! After finishing our last half marathon (the Charleston Half Marathon) in January, we were all pumped up and ready to sign up for another. I browsed race calendars looking for the perfect race at the right time and in the right location. Lexington is just around the corner for us Ohioans, and it gave us a little over two months to continue our preparation, treating the Charleston race as just another training run. After checking out the race website…
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The Weekend Long Run: Mindfulness on the Run
I asked in a previous post, (or maybe I just thought it to myself), whether running itself was the same as meditation. I suppose it depends a lot on how you do it. It may not necessarily be meditation, but if you think about it, running should always be done mindfully. In fact, distracted running could be seriously dangerous in a plethora of ways from the mild and hilarious to the breathtakingly sobering. For example, a misstep at dusk over a crack in the sidewalk could lay you out on your face. I’ll never forget the first time this happened to me. I was a freshman in college, and I had just…
