RUNNER’S LIFE
Less-than-Perfect Conditions Are Just Perfect for Me
Finding motivation and hope amidst stress and heat
I often feel like there’s something wrong with me because I can’t parent and work and house clean and cook and take care of the dog and do all the other things that human adults need to do, and get in my workouts plus optimal nutrition, because the runners I follow on social media make it look effortless even as they protest that it’s not. Just wake up at 4:30 to fit it all in! But make sure you get plenty of sleep! (There’s a huge problem in that message alone, without all the problems of all the messages that come with nutrition guidelines and time-saving hacks.) I love running in the morning and I wake up early, but for a variety of reasons I can’t run early mornings most days, at least not until the school year is over.
How do I follow a diet for optimal performance when I also have to make food for my family? I don’t want to make special meals for myself except for what I have to do for my celiac disease. I have an active 11-year-old and don’t need her worrying about food beyond a healthy balance of nutrition and treats. She already sees me obsessing over gluten and reading every label. I want her to just enjoy eating.
As the stay/work-at-home parent, I’m also left with a lot of the dog care, and that means mid-morning walks. He loves to run, but can only go between one and three miles and during the week we’re kind of stuck in our neighborhood. I don’t have time to take us on five miles of beautiful trails every day, like it seems every other runner with dogs can do. It’s also taken more than a year of training to get him to a point where he doesn’t pull as much so it doesn’t hurt my shoulders to walk or run with him. Running with him is just now becoming enjoyable for me, but it’s still not optimal for my form and performance.
Perspective
I have to remind myself that I’m only seeing one part of someone’s life on social media, and as cynical as it sounds, many people are trying to sell me a running or a dietary lifestyle and I have to navigate carefully. Or just turn it off.
I have to remind myself that I’m two years into a four-year stint in El Salvador, with broken sidewalks, crazy traffic circles, dogs that are even less trained than mine, and a hot, tropical climate (along with a vibrant running and cycling community whose members often say “Buenas!” as they pass me). Conditions are not going to change.
I have to remind myself that I have celiac disease and that has to be the number-one factor in my diet, followed closely by setting a healthy example for my daughter, and I have no idea how COVID may have affected healing from foot surgery, but I have to do the work anyway to get better.
An unexpected turning point
When it became apparent that the pandemic was going to rob our daughter of another year of after-school sports, we decided to join a private gym so she could get the competitive swimming instruction she craves. I enjoyed bringing a book and unplugging for 45 minutes twice a week while she swam. I’d thought about running during that time, but the road has fast traffic with a narrow shoulder and too much dust or mud, depending on the weather. It wouldn’t be an improvement over conditions at home and it seemed exhausting to try.
But recently I noticed someone running along the outside of the building, a couple of floors above the parking lot. I hadn’t seen the railing up there before, but it was obvious there was outdoor pedestrian space. On a subsequent visit, I poked around the gym a bit and found the door to the track, and on the visit after that, I dressed for running and hit it.
It’s hot. We’re there in the warmest part of the afternoon. The track is about half in shade and half in direct sunlight. It’s less a “track” and actually a concrete sidewalk.
The track dips up and down between the second and third floors of the gym, so it is not flat:
There are some sections that will be slippery in the rainy season. I can’t relax enough to let myself go completely on the downhill parts because of the concrete. It’s also a tight rectangle of about 200 meters with right angles instead of gentle curves:
I run a few laps in one direction then turn around and run a few laps in the other, alternating back and forth to reduce the stress on my knees and hips.
But I’m outside away from my dog and away from traffic and that makes me happy. My bar is pretty low when it comes to finding run-able conditions.
The first time I ran it, I ran two miles. Without my strong-willed, 55-pound roving weight, I was much faster. My Garmin congratulated me on my improvement.
The next time I ran it, I did a little more than two miles. The last time I was there, I ran 5K with time to spare before my daughter’s lesson was over. It was my fastest 5K since my foot surgery. I felt like my old self was starting to crack open the door, getting ready to return.
It’s not perfect, but it’s fine
Right now this block of time twice a week is my motivation, even though the conditions are not optimal. Preparing to run in the heat in the afternoon forces me to eat well and hydrate properly in the morning, no matter what else is going on, and I’m getting better at stretching at night while I’m watching tv. I know I can do better but for now, this is the balance I can achieve.
I’m at 5K now. Just multiply that by 10 and I’m at my goal distance. It sounds so doable when I put it like that.
My running in Bamako, Mali:
