Nomi says...
So, getting up at 5am, getting the kid's and The Man's things ready for school and work respectively, then getting myself ready, driving to the park in total darkness, hoping that i get there safe and sound, and then run...everyday...is a fairytale...
See, running fits into the scheme of things...i don't prioritize running so that everything else has to fall into place around my desire to run...which would be nice...but not really feasible.
So, i was supposed to be running 11kms last week, 6 days a week and 12 kms this week, 6 days a week. Did that happen? Nooooooo....Why??? Well because The Man had his own plans, the moon wasn't in alignment with the stars and i was downright lazy most of the time...So, how can i attempt to be fairly consistent with my running?
Options, options and more options are needed...so that there's a choice on how to get things done.
See, the weather here is either hot and dry or hot and wet...After 8.30am or so, it's HOT, in areas with no tree cover...you sweat buckets, feel like yesterday's dessicated spinach and all you want to do is melt into a puddle at the road side. When Joy visited and ran in the park with me, her skin started sizzling like bacon frying in the pan, even in the 7.30 am sun.....(well, maybe i exaggerate a bit). So , an option is to run in a shaded area...like running trails in the park. Which is do-able since there are parks that fits the description. This way , there's no time constraint as such since there's tree cover and you can pretty much run comfortably even after 9am. Mosquitoes, leeches, the occasional wild boar, snakes, monitor lizards ( I've actually seen these in a park i went to) are just part of the wildlife you'd encounter, i suppose.
Another option is to join the gym...to use the treadmill. BOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!!! But the most rational of all options, i think? You can go anytime, run as much as you want, there's sort of 'daycare' facility that cages....errrr... i mean takes care of your child for about 2 hours. Only drawbacks are, that it's monotonous, you'll be breathing in about a hundred other people's carbon dioxide and other noxious fumes, get an epileptic fit looking at all those bobbing figures on the treadmill, cross trainer and other instruments of torture..and feel so claustrophobic, you'd want to leap out of the window....
Sigh....i think i'll stick to the road and the trails.....so much for options...
Oh, Nomi, I SOOOOOOOOO know what you mean about the frustrations of trying to schedule run time around the rest of life. I think that you're right, though, that if you have a number of options - our regular route, the trails in the park, a gym - you're more likely to try to make it work when everything else seems to be conspiring against you. And I wouldn't suggest the treadmill or gym all the time, but it just might help out in a pinch on those days when it's steaming hot and were I there I would be frying like the bacon you so aptly described. Canadian bacon, that's me! ;)
ReplyDeletexo
Joy
i completely understand and sympathize. nomi and i haven't run together for some time and i'm beginning to feel tired of the monotony of running outside my apartment block by myself at 6.30 am. 1 round around the apartment = 700 meters. so if i want to a 10k run, i have to do 15 rounds. oi. talk about hamsters and their wheels ;) i'm lucky enough to have a treadmill in my apartment but that to, is boring...even with my tv on, my ipod on and my cat entertaining me with her constant caterwauling. i'm definitely in a funk :( i need to snap out of it soon.
ReplyDelete