I was planning a workout with a friend, let’s call her ‘Maureen’, following work. I was thinking of introducing her to the Survival Workout, though on an introductory level. It was also a run day and I didn’t want to miss it, so I went to the park before work and managed a 40-minute effort. My left achilles has been aching with every run for the past several weeks and I place the blame on the minimalist shoes, since I have nothing else I can pinpoint. I decided to go back to my old fashioned, thickly-soled traditional running shoe to see if it would make a difference. It certainly didn’t during the run.
I returned to the park with Maureen after work and stopped at the Ranger Station. While she changed in the bathroom, I did the same...quickly...in the parking lot. I was concerned that my standard operating, sleeves ripped away t-shirt would frighten her, so I reached onto the floor of the Honda and grabbed the only t-shirt there...a dirty, wrinkled wadded-up mess. I turned it right side out and pulled it over my head. Only then did I realize it was the 9/11 t-shirt my son Jason had designed in 2001. Our church youth group had then sold it to raise funds for a trip to NYC and Ground Zero. When Maureen emerged from the bathroom, I pointed out the shirt, which we both found significantly coincidental, and then explained her exercise options.
“I have to do 20 minutes of running, but after that I’ll do anything you want,” she said.
The achilles was aching, but I didn’t want to admit there was something I couldn’t do, so we headed for my favorite trail where I figured we’d run for her 20 minutes, then hike the rest of the way down to the marsh and back. I ran a little ahead of her and warned her about he hazards of this trail…roots and rocks waiting for the chance to trip you up.
“Don’t get me started on running and falling,” she said…which apparently I had as she described her worst experience.
“I did a face plant onto a sidewalk in Lakewood,” she said.
“Raised section?” I asked.
“Yeah, there was that. And it was night time. And I was looking in somebody’s picture window…for decorating ideas, of course,” she said.
“Of course,” I answered. I had experience with this behavior. Holly often asks me to drive slower when we’re riding down a side street at night so she can look in windows. When we’re walking, I think she takes pictures with her cell phone…to get those same decorating ideas, I’m sure.
“I had stitches inside my mouth, on my face and something up my nose to help me breathe. I was a mess,” she said.
And all that for what you could have gotten in any edition of ‘Good Housekeeping’. Actually, she had other things wrong, but they were to many for me to remember and besides, I was busy looking at the ground so I wouldn’t do another header myself.
We finished the run and then began a bushwack down to the marsh. I don’t know if she liked it or was just being kind, but I figure anyone can walk on the trails…my hikes are meant to be special with a tad more exertion. We ended up back at the cars ninety minutes after we left and I’ll find out how much she liked it based on how soon she asks for another trek.
Run Duration: 40 minutes. Run/hike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 675 running and 550 on the run/hike.
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