Running in Converse All-Stars

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Jack was planning on a run with his friend, Grant, who was a member of the swim team. He told me that Grant wanted to run 15 miles because he’d done a terrible workout at practice earlier in the day. I advised him against trying something like that when neither of them was in any kind of shape for that many miles, but being 16 and feeling rather invincible, his mind wasn’t wrapping itself around exactly what 15 miles of running meant or could do to his body. I’d done something similar at about the same age and knew better.

I was 17 and a member of the cross country team. The captain had a wonderful idea for a weekend run…why don’t we all get together and do the March of Dimes 20-mile walk? “If it’s a walk, how come we’re going to run?” I had an inquisitive mind and needed to know.

“Because we can,” was the answer the captain gave me and who was I to argue with such deep, precise thinking.

I ran that Saturday, making it the first 15 miles in decent shape. To that point, the longest run I had ever done was probably about 7 miles and I was running in my converse all-star lows. My feet were aching and over the next mile I was finding standing…forget about running…difficult. I finished the course, but the damage to my feet was real and I was unable to walk for the next three days…literally.

Grant showed up at the house ready to run, but before they could leave, I told them both what I thought. They listened attentively and, I think, actually thought I made sense. Holly wasn’t there to correct them in this folly…so they left.

When they returned to the house some time later and described the course they’d run, I figured they’d gone about 8 miles at most, which was a good thing since neither had been running enough to warrant much longer. I suggested the old 10% rule, which says don’t increase weekly mileage by more than 10%...and is a decent gauge for increasing a long run, as well.

I had done my own run earlier in the day and taken Dakota along. We’d covered a little over 30 minutes at a pretty easy jog pace. I’m being extremely cautious of the roots and rocks which are now completely hidden by the falling leaves and know that pr’s under these conditions are unlikely. I do find the runs to be beautiful, though. I love the sun filtering through the leaves of various shades of orange and yellow and bouncing off those already fallen. I feel like I’m running through a golden tunnel at times with the ground almost seeming to glow yellow. Soon it will be gone and I’m so happy to have gotten my hip healthy enough to enjoy the amazing changes the fall brings to the woods.

Tomorrow, I’ll be meeting Randy and going to Slyman’s for lunch. I think once he eats that sandwich, he’ll understand the need to do any run many hours after. Hopefully we’ll get to the Metroparks for a decent workout.

Ran an easy 30 minutes with Dakota. Jack’s friend wanted to run 10 miles – remember when I ran 20 in tennis shoes and couldn’t walk for three days.

Run duration: 31 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 500.