I RAN HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY TOO

I tried VERY hard to sleep in today. At 5 AM I told myself I could run at lunch or this evening. Even the thought of running in 60 degree, sunny weather didn’t help. I reset my alarm for 6 AM, but that didn’t work either. I was awake. So I got up and got in 7 miles with some strides before work.

I was talking with a guy at work the other day about running. I ran into him in the locker room last week during one of my lunchtime runs. We’ve talked running a few times since then and he knows I’m running Grandma’s. Yesterday he asked me if I was running TCM in the fall too. I said no because I was going to focus on my speed and just run shorter races. He said something like “That’s good, all that running can’t be good for your body – long-term.” I didn’t say I wasn’t going to run, I said I wasn’t going to run a fall marathon.

I guess these non-runners think we train for a race, run it, then just sit around until we decide on another goal. Besides, I’ve been running for 25 years. When are these long-term injuries going to start affecting me? Of course this advice was coming from a guy who complains about his knees and not being able to run much because of BASKETBALL. Let’s see; you/me, running/basketball, lateral movements/straight line, etc. I see the correlation now.

I tried to explain that I’d still be running “a lot” in order to get faster at shorter distances too. His response? “Intervals, intervals. I know, I ran high school cross country.” Yes, I agree intervals are important in the development of speed, but you still need a base in order to build that speed on. I thought about explaining this, but decided not to waste my time.