Holding Pattern
It’s proving something of a challenge to write about running these days since I’m not actually running. I’ve certainly over-documented my distress at injuries by now, so further exploration of that topic seems unhealthily self-obsessed. Gym workouts are necessary but boring, so also not good grist for the running reflection mill. (Plus I’m not doing those either thanks to far too much recent travel.)
So what’s a wannabe writer — and runner — to do?
Share my running playlist, you say?
Sure, except I’m about as musically promiscuous as they come. I’ll listen to anything. (Well, except opera — I heard WAY too much Madame Butterfly growing up!) My listening history reads like a monkey with a Spotify app instead of a typewriter. Proof you say? Okay. The last three songs: Mardi Gras by Queen Ida; Argosvinis Moni by Imam Baildi; and Fool for Love by Lord Huron. I’m not sure I’d choose any of those to run by. Which isn’t to say I don’t listen to upbeat, hard-driving songs that encourage the pace, it’s just that King Kunta (Kendrick Lamar) is just as likely to be followed by Malagueňa (José Feliciano) rather than Life During Wartime (Talking Heads). Nobody deserves that kind of auditory whiplash.
So, podcasts then?
Well, at the risk of feeling smugly self-serving, I’ve actually produced forty episodes of a podcast with my younger daughter Addie (Awkward Family Conversations), where we talk about topics Addie and her cohort of younger millennials find interesting. So in theory I’m down with the podcast. But my attention stamina has flagged as I’ve aged, and podcasts struggle to keep my attention for that reason. (I have a harder time sustaining my reading now too.)
Plus I don’t listen to anything when I run. I never have. I run first to chat with whoever runs with me or, if I run alone, to over-analyze my physical feedback so I can complain about it during coffee with my running friends. Or my indulgent non-running friends.
Okay, what about gear?
I am a gearhead. Twenty years of seeking the maximum advantage that comes from buying instead of training has given me the chance to try a lot of different gear. A LOT of different gear. But interestingly, the running community recommendations from back in the day (i.e., twenty years ago) have proven reliable. (You know, there might be something to this crowdsourcing thing...)
I started with Asics Gel Nimbus back then, and that’s still — or rather again — my shoe of choice no matter the distance. I’ve tried Mizuno, Brooks, Altra, Saucony, Nike, Salomon, Hoka when they still had the One One suffix, Vimazi, and even Vibram Five Fingers (which is about the freakiest footwear in history). They were all fine, but nothing fits me better than the Nimbus. Similarly, Brooks Sherpa shorts, always in black, have also stood the test of time. And shirts are easy — they hand them out like Halloween candy when you pony up fifty bucks (or more) for a race, so it won’t take you long to find a fave.
But the bottom line is that even with twenty years of experience I’m not sure I can add much value to the discourse about equipment.
Nutrition then?
Yes! I am a nutrition geek! Training and recovery and nutrition make up the fitness tripod. I can wax poetic about nutrition without end, but only if you recognize it as free verse (so not really poetry — I leave that to my remarkably accomplished literary-award-winning niece Kathryn). But again I’ll just be repeating what others have said more eloquently than me. Good: complex carbs, lean proteins, plant-based fats during training. Simple carbs for the twenty-four hours pre-race. Stay away from animal fats and fried foods. And moderate treats and booze. Not exactly breaking new ground there.
We live in a world with many runners, which is our good fortune. And it is an extraordinarily generous community, which is our better fortune. But the downside is that each of us contributes only a smidgen to our collective knowledge. I can share what’s worked for me in the past, but not only are each of us just an experiment of one, that one changes through time. It’s not really fair, but then the glory is in the striving, and if we had the cheat codes that would be, well, cheating.
So again, if I’m not running, what can I contribute to our conversation?
Not much it seems.
