I Feel Like I’m Running, I Feel Like I’m Running

The first day of Fall.  First dawn under seventy degrees since March.  Almost feels chilly.  Cooler temperatures, sunny skies, blue and clear, hurricanes headed another direction.  Life is good.

The old man missed running a couple of days during Irma.  Nothing like no sleep and not a little fear and no power and no electricity to take the edge off one’s desire for exercise.  The daily run is part of his survival kit.

He was worried about survival.  But right now still at that stage where he worried much more about comfort.  The old man likes to feel comfortable.  And some of you know what I’m talking about, pain is uncomfortable.  Constant pain can be managed.  The old man managed with routine.

His routine was to hit the road by nine.  Run for sixty to ninety minutes.  The old runner couldn’t actually run, he was walking as hard as he could.  He knew he wasn’t running but it felt like he was running.  The hills were still hard to go up, the hills still hurt to go down.  That bad left knee plagued him forty years ago, still a pox on his joy.

What was different today is just how much he loved headwinds.  A good breeze in your face and you can convince you are actually doing it.  Running.

I feel like I’m running, I feel like I’m running, I feel like I’m running….

Running.  Once he decided to pursue virtual running, he could hold on to the effort and the pain.  Felt like a decent tempo run.  Felt like he was running six-fifteens for five miles.  He could do that once.  Much faster even.  Tried to remember what that was like.

The old man could just zone out and pretend to be on a run of his youth.  Taken up the habit of thumbing an old diary and looking for a run to replicate.  Never a workout.  Something fun, something self-captivating.

Sunday, September 30, 1973.  Eight weeks in Flagstaff.  Weight 159/pulse 40.  1:30 p.m. 75 degrees.  Sunny.  “FUN RUN”  Altitude 7000 ft.  At Lake Mary Meadows.  Ned [Frederick] and I developed 6.9 miles of cross-country with three not too tough hills, some rocky terrain and very deep dust over much of the course.  Anyway, I finished second (of fifteen starters) in a time of 42:08.  The winner was a runner from the Northern Arizona University track team in 40:42.

My first mile was in 6:06 (third position) and I was the first off the line and actually was the leader for approximate a quarter-mile.  It felt great!  Pace for entire race was 6:06.

To be honest, he didn’t remember much about that event.  Looking at the journal entry, seems like a good day to pretend to have again.  Of course, the entire point of virtual running is the feeling.  Movement feels good.  Seventy-five degrees and sunny, no need to pretend about that.

I feel like I’m running, I feel like I’m running, I feel like I’m running….

The old man wished the old dog could keep up with him, but he simply had to sniff every bush.  No way to cover ground.

What the hell.  He imagined a virtual canine trotting along beside him.  Both happily panting.

Probably something short-legged.