Wednesday, December 6, 2017

What I Sometimes Think About When I Run

 
   I generally will only attempt a blog post when I have a run I want to share. This means I've gone through occasional long stretches when there isn't anything to blog about as well as the occasional stretch where there do seem to be things I think someone else out there might be interested in hearing.
   Today, I don't have a run I'd like to go on and on about. I would like to talk about something I think about pretty well every time I get out there, however.
   
2013---running through the forest begins!
I'm a heavy guy who runs. I'm not the only heavy runner I've encountered on the internet or in magazines but I'm one of the heaviest runners I've seen in these parts of Ontario---and I see a lot of runners, London is kind of a hot bed for runners, so even when you don't want to see any (like if you're injured, for example) you still see them.

   I suspect the odd runner I encounter who has noticed my weight has then looked at me with some sympathy, mild interest, or possible disdain. I suppose it's also possible that some of them see me and silently congratulate me for just getting out there. I also have the feeling that the occasional runner simply does not see me, in any way.
   Any and all of this is fine with me, I'm not out there trying to impress anyone but here's the thought that runs through my head----not many people could do what I'm doing. 
   To explain, not many runners I see out there could move 230 pounds through a forest as fast as I can. I see lots of slender men and women out there running who are very likely anywhere from 50 to 100 pounds lighter than I am. I then imagine them being given a fifty to a hundred pound rock to carry with them and then seeing just how far, or fast, they can carry it. I don't see them making much of a go of it for very long or very far.
   I don't run fast with my 230 pounds but I run further and further all the time and, because that's the only thing I'm really trying to do, I don't see the need to do it quickly. 
   But I can run fast. As a matter of fact, if one of those slender runners and I were to stop somewhere in the forest and pick a tree about a hundred meters away in order to race to it, I strongly suspect I would win. Now, if that tree were two hundred meters away, I strongly suspect I would lose (or come in second, as I would choose to describe it!) 
Me, in the middle, buddying up with Jessica Zelinka
and friends at SprintFit last summer. As much as I
enjoy the forest, it was nice to be on a track,
running sort of fast for a change!
   I'm not sure but I suspect my body type is more like that of a sprinter, rather than a distance runner. It is, however, likely dissatisfying to write a blog post about the 13 second run I did on the weekend! There is a mystique to long-distance trail runs that I seem to have bought into and I guess that's why I do them. I also have the feeling that the type of training I would need to do as a sprinter would not be nearly as fun as running through forests, past streams and deer and mountains.
   Like most people, I have body image issues. Part of me would love to be lean and svelte, to look the same as the other runners out there, the ones that are passing me effortlessly. As I relentlessly move my 230 pounds through the trees and up the hillsides, however, I tell myself a couple of different things--- one is none of them could do this and the other is I am amazing!

   

2 comments:

  1. Keep moving that body! Well done on you. There is no perfect body for running. There is no perfect body for running. We all come in different shapes and sizes. Great blog post. You are amazing and you have the true spirit of running!

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    1. Thanks, Crystal, coming from you that is the highest pf praise!

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