the pencil runs

I thought of them before I fell asleep last night, and of them again
on the way to work, and I am tempted to dump them both. I am afraid
that having too much information will spoil the romance of the run,
and the experience of the run will be reduced to a mere statistic.
Will I be distracted from the "here and now" if I have a constantly
changing number on my wrist, yelling "Speed up! Too slow! Too short!"

There is the "science" of running: speed, distance, hills, repeats,
time, improvement; and there is the "art": the breeze, the sound of
the foot on gravel, the sweat, the regular breathing, the feeling of
your heart as you push yourself just a little harder. Runner's World
has a column "Waddle on, friends" for those who take it slow, and in
the last issue I read, the columnist was emphatic in saying that no
two runs are every alike, the way you can never put your foot in the
same river twice. That is what I am afraid of losing.

I think I think too much.

Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 at 8:27 PM. :)