A little running tale...

Sit down, boys and girls, it’s time for a tale. The story is titled, “The Runner that Could.”
Could push off her runs that is.

She woke up and was too cozy in her bed? Perhaps tomorrow would be a better day.

Use her long mornings off to get in her workout? No, she’d simply decide to cram it in after she got off at 11 p.m. and her gym closes at midnight.

Those runs, one may guess, never happened.

Go out late at night, or until early in the morning? Running might not even be healthy being so underslept, she’d think, lounging on the couch watching football with a beer.

But as the event she’d been training for – all 26.2 miles of it – grew closer and closer she could no longer put off her longest run, that of 18 miles. A late start in her training meant she’d never hit the suggested 20.

The girl thought.

Perhaps she could call in sick on Tuesday to get the run done. The earlier the better, as the beloved taper loomed, and there was a 3 week suggested taper. A Tuesday run meant she’d fall just short of the 3 weeks.

Work was too busy. She could not call in.

Wednesday morning, then, since her shift began at 3 p.m. But Wednesday came and went and inexplicably, there would be no run.

Thursday arrived. It was now or never.

She made a half bagel with veggie cream cheese and tomatoes on top, ate a banana, a cup of coffee, drank water. Waited 2 hours.

She went through her usual race day prep feeling quite nervous, for some reason, even getting sick as she does on race days.

Yet when the run began she was mentally ready as if it were marathon day. That is, if the marathon started at 1:30 p.m.

But oh it was a bitter day! The girl’s first real winter run of the season. The wind nearly drew tears of cold as it struck her face. A strong headwind meant the girl fought harder and harder to move. And strong rains Wednesday meant the path was even rockier than normal, causing the girl to concentrate more than usual so as not to trip and fall.

It grew colder as the sun prepared to set. The girl, thankfully, had brought a thicker top, which she changed into. The coughing began. The girl could see her breath into the cold air as she pushed herself faster and faster.

Then, as dusk nearly fell, she began to tighten up. She was now having to stretch every half mile or her right knee began to cramp. Yes, her right knee, despite the girl’s stern lecture to her body that it’s her left knee that’s troubled.

She could not help thinking that none of this would happen had she done her run on Wednesday.
Wednesday, you see, was unseasonably warm, a record high in fact. At the time her run would have occurred the temps would have been in the low 70s, late 60s.

In a day, a 30 degree temperature drop.

The run ended. The girl went home.

The moral of the story, dear boys and girls, is not that one should do their runs on the scheduled/prescribed days.

No, the moral is this: Pushing off your runs may make for more challenging runs later, but adverse conditions test our bodies and make us better in the end. So put off that run. Cause tomorrow, it’ll be harder. And hard is good.

THE MO’ FO’ TAPER’S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s do this thing.