Run 3, 2010 …all the world’s a track…

All the world’s a track,
And all the men and women merely runners:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one runner in his time plays many parts…

And so today I ran at the indoor track. I ran 6 laps for a warm up, then began my 44 lap 10 km time trial. My pace was 6:40 per kilometer so I ran it in 1:06:36. In all I did 11.36 (50 laps) km today. Then I walked a few extra laps for a cool down. Did my stretches and some push ups after. Then I went to the pool where something new happened. After only a few minutes of just bobbing around a small area in my left calf muscle began contracting uncontrollably over an area about the size of a dollar coin, causing me a considerable amount of incapacitating pain. No sooner did that settle down a bit when my right calf muscle just below the knee did the same thing over a much larger area (an area about the size of my hand) and the pain was ten times worse. I had to get out of the water for that one. It feels like the muscles were contracting uncontrollably and unrelentingly. It’s like the muscles said “Oh hey, were contracting permanently now and yes we know that we are being ripped and torn apart but we don’t care because we’re not relaxing, so piss off.”

Well, this has never happened to me before ever; it is something completely new to me. I have no idea why this happened. I had to get out as I’ve said, and get into the hot tub to try to relax it out. It’s still pretty sore right now but the worst seems to be over. Perhaps it was due to my hot muscles being submerged in cold water, I don’t know for sure. The hot tub helped a lot.

The only thing I did differently today was that instead of drinking water, I drank orange Powerade. As you know, this has sodium and potassium salts in it as well as sugars. I usually drink only water for such a short indoor run. I only drink Powerade during my outside runs. I drank a total of 500 mL.

The part I played today in the world is that of the runner who was initially highly perturbed by a spasm incident, but quickly decided to totally ignore it and just carry on.

I am reminded of a conversation I had a long time ago with some people who were interested in running and exercise as a means to an end. I told them creating mini goals is good. But forget about losing 60 pounds. Just focus on losing one pound this week only. Then never gain it back. But they seemed to be only focused on the end result. They wanted to lose x pounds by such and such a date. I told them to forget about that and to focus on making lifestyle changes. Just do it for the rest of your life and not for some arbitrary period of time. Some of them said they were too old. I asked them, “OK, so how old will you be next year if you do nothing?” The reply was of course a year older. Then I asked “OK, so how old will you be if you do something?” The point is that no matter what your choices are, you will be a year older. It is better to make the right choice now so that when you are a year older you can look back and say I am better than I was last year, even if I haven’t reached my ultimate goal. It’s better than wishing you had done something and better than feeling awful about missing out on a whole year’s progress. Some say they feel it is too late for them and they don’t have much time left. I just ask, “how much time do you think you have left?” No matter what they reply I just say that they have the entire rest of their lives.

I suffer set backs all the time and probably so does everyone else. I have not reached my ultimate goal and I probably never will reach it. But that is not the point. The point is to make it a forever thing. Everything else will follow.

Just as you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink, you can lead people to the well of critical thought, but you can’t make them think…and while we are at it, you can show people the best path to take to improve their lives, but you can’t make them run it. People will find excuses for damn near everything I have found. And it’s never their fault.

All the world is indeed a stage and all the men and women on it merely players. The question is: How will you perform your role? (Thanks to Shakespeare for the poetry).