Running With Music

To all you young parents out there in the throes of chaos…yes, it can be really hard. But when they get older? Damn, it’s fun. And then when they’re out of the house? Let’s just say it gets real quiet, real fast. Or at least it did for me.

First longish run since Boston this am. Holy crap, you’d think I’d never run long before in my life. How quickly we forget all the key things needed for an hour+ on the road when we stop doing them. Will work on the Long Run 101 cheat sheet & post it for all of us. I’m guessing I’m not alone here.

For the first time in a while I have no races in the near future & no specific training plan to focus on. Which is great. So, when I got down to the track today to do a pretty basic workout “for fun” I thought I’d be notably less nervous, anxious, etc, when I was ready to start. But, I wasn’t. The butterflies were in full force as they always are. Which leads to my question. Is this something, at 51, that I should be working on? Trying to relax a bit more and embrace the hard work when I’m in an off season. Or, are these emotions just part of the overall package of being a somewhat competitive runner who simply cares a lot about what they do? Full disclosure, this is meant to be a lighthearted conversation about the mental side of sport & while it may sound like I’m overthinking here, I’m not the least bit worried about it. Simply curious. Your thoughts?