Month: May 2014

Running


Running is as vital to me as breathing. I have been running in one form or another for as long as I can remember. Growing up, we didn’t have computers or video games, so most of the games we played involved running. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the fastest, but I wasn’t exactly the slowest, either. And my endurance was mediocre compared to the other boys in the neighborhood.

I didn’t begin running per se until my freshman year at Divine Heart Seminary when I joined the cross-country team. I wasn’t disciplined enough to train properly, but I finished every race. I don’t believe I was ever last. My first race was the Marshall County Meet in Indiana. I had never run in an organized race before, so I had no idea about how fast to run or how to pace myself. So, I ran ahead of the entire pack, and everyone was cheering me on. However, I soon faded and lost contact with the lead pack. I hated the pain and felt like quitting. I also felt embarrassed that when I returned to the spectators’ view, I was no longer in the lead, but toward the end with the last runners. I don’t remember my finishing time, but somehow, I was awarded a ribbon.

When I transferred to another high school, they didn’t have a cross country team. As much as I disliked the pain, I sometimes felt from running, I missed running cross country. I didn’t really run much the rest of my high school years, but I did do a lot of walking instead of taking the bus around Chicago.

When I turned nineteen, I was working in a peanut butter factory as a manual laborer and suddenly I felt a strong urge to begin running again. I wanted to be in shape, and I associated being able to run long distances as the equivalent of being in shape. I still feel that way. So, I started running again.

I remembered the shin splints I had when I first started running cross country as I felt them when I started running again at age nineteen. I suddenly remembered how hard and painful running can be. Yet this somehow encouraged me to keep running. To keep running against myself. I needed to overcome the shin splints, the side stitches I felt on every run, and the feeling of quitting and doing something that was as painful. But I kept running. Running gave me great satisfaction! And a great sense of accomplishment! I felt good about myself that I had run, despite the soreness I felt afterwards. Gradually, there was less pain and soreness as I continued running regularly and felt more pleasure during the run and afterwards, too. Now, decades later, I’m still running, thankful I never quit! 

Coffee, blog, run


Food and Coding at NorthEnd Coffee shop, Banani, Dhaka by Kausar Alam is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Well, the semester has finally ended, and I have the entire summer off. I would like to laze around the house and relax all summer. I will relax, but I have also set some goals for myself. I will begin each day with coffee, a blog post, and a morning run.

I’m very self-disciplined when I need to be and when I want to be. I have decided to be very self-disciplined once again. I will wake up to a morning cup of coffee to get me started. For me, coffee is a stimulant, not a crutch. The aroma and that first sip get my creative juices flowing. Coffee also prepares my body for my morning run because it’s a diuretic. I’ll spare you the details. Of course, I must be incredibly careful not to drink too much or I’ll have to make an unscheduled pit stop and it’s not always easy finding a restroom while on the run. Especially in the morning when most public places are closed.

The blog post should be easy to write since the first thing I do after I prepare my coffee is turn on the computer. I just have to ensure that I don’t check my email or Facebook first. These distractions can wait until after I write my blog post while I drink my coffee. As I sit alone by my computer with my coffee mug writing my blog post right now, I feel great satisfaction because I’m doing something I enjoy so much. Well, not the drinking coffee part, but the writing and using my computer. Computers have really made it easier for me to write. But that’s a post for another day.

After the coffee and the blog comes the run. Running is the one constant throughout my life. Running takes up only a small portion of my day, but my entire day must revolve around the run if I want to get a good run in. In the 1980s I use to run a lot of miles because I wanted to improve my race times so I could get a running scholarship, but that never materialized. Mainly because I developed allergies and/or I over-trained and burned out too soon. But I kept running anyway. I always managed to run three to six miles several days per week. The last couple of years, I consistently ran four and a half miles at least four times per week.

Then, something took over my running. I’m not sure what it was. For a few years, I tried to increase my mileage, but I was unsuccessful. I would always develop new aches and pains that prevented me from running more than four and a half miles. Then, my son Alex started running track. I went to every track meet possible. When I saw the track meets last year, I felt inspired to run again. Suddenly, I started running more miles. Not necessarily faster, but certainly more miles. In fact, with each track meet that I saw, I was inspired by not only by my son, who turned out to be an exceptionally good 400-meter runner, but also by the other runners who struggled just to finish with determination. Slowly, I increased my mileage until I reached nine miles or so.

Well, I’ve completed the coffee and the blog part of my daily morning routine. Now it’s off to my run!

DDR