Wednesday, January 9th (posted 1/10)
Today, my goal was simple: to run. My route was the same as my route from the walk, I just wanted to go faster. Actually, “wanted” is kind of a strong word. I guess it was more that I needed to go faster.
I don’t really like running, like most people out there. It is all about enduring the pain until it is over. It requires a lot of motivation to do so, however. Unlike other exercises, I firmly believe that my limit when running is not because I am not strong enough to improve, like with weights. If you lift, for example, a dumbbell, you will find that your arms have a finite limit to what they can lift, and that is what stops you from lifting a heavier weight. With running, I believe that what limits your speed is willpower.
To elaborate, you have a lot of time to think when running. What stops me from going faster is not me being unable to, but determining that running faster is not worth it. I think if people could remove that bottleneck, they could run so much faster.
A moment in 8th grade comes to mind when trying to illustrate my point. I was running a timed mile, as we would every month. I would have been within my allotted time, and I was wrapping up the last lap. Then I thought to myself, “It would be pretty cool if I just sped up a ton, right now”. So, I did. I was already so tired, but instead of slowing down, I sped up substantially. I didn’t breathe during the 5 seconds I did this. I just ran incredibly fast with a sudden burst of speed. Of course, I was extremely tired right after it, and I had to lie down for a solid minute or two to recover. This proved to myself that the main limit on my running speed is how bad I wanted it. This realization didn’t really change much, however. I knew I could shave minutes off of my mile time, but I didn’t feel it would be worth it.
I always considered my speed above average, and have been proud to say that because my legs are substantially shorter than others’.
This activity was more like a jog. I didn’t like the idea of getting too tired and still having to worry about getting home. This is why treadmills are preferred by many. I was itching to try a treadmill instead, because when you want to stop, you can just stop and not worry about it. This is different for me because I kind of am spooked by treadmills.
One time, I didn’t notice someone had left a treadmill running so I stepped onto it. My leg was swiped off to the side briskly, and my previously broken arm in its cast landed hard on the side of the treadmill. Another time, I tripped on a treadmill. I was fine, but it was kind of frightening nonetheless.
When I got home, I began to look forward to the next day.
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