Just Run

When did running get to be so complicated? Wait, better question: why did running get so complicated?

When I started running three years ago, I just ran. Sure I had downloaded a training plan to get me from the couch to finishing a marathon so I knew the mileage I was supposed to run on that day but I never gave any thought to how fast I would run or the purpose of the run. Tempo? Intervals? Hills? None of that matter. The purpose of the run was the run. All that really mattered was that I stepped out the door with the intention of running and then I did it.

Heck, I didn’t even own a Garmin at that point so I don’t know if I was even running the “correct” distances. I knew I ran at about a 12 minute pace so I looked at the schedule, multiplied the number of miles by 12 and then divided that in half. If I was scheduled to run 7 miles, I would run for 84 minutes. Divide that in half; 42 minutes out, 42 minutes back, run done. If I felt good, I ran fast and if I didn’t, I ran slow. I just ran

That’s how my first round of marathon training was run and I had a great first marathon experience. In fact, it was my best marathon experience in terms of finishing strong and happy. Some where along the path between then and now complications have been added, including a Garmin to track pace and precise distance, specific types of runs with a purpose, and a goal to get faster, faster, faster. But really, I haven’t gotten that much faster. In the two years since my first marathon, I’ve only taken 25 minutes off my first marathon time and both times, I was hurting when I crossed the line.

I’ve run with purpose…run a faster marathon but I haven’t run a strong marathon like my first.

But what if running with a purpose isn’t the way to achieve my larger goal of being a lifetime runner, literally running through each phase of my life? What if the injuries have stemmed from these complications and the feeling down about bad races and slower than intended runs? Can I go back to that way of running?

OK, it might be hard for me to give up my Garmin but what if I didn’t let the distance and purpose of the run rule my running. What if I woke up in the morning, looked at my schedule and told myself today is x miles, that’s x minutes, let’s do it.

Time on my feet and miles on my legs, that’s the name of the game.

Almost all of the beginner’s running plans I’ve seen, leave out “quality” runs (the runs with names…fartlek, intervals, tempo, etc.) with the exception of the long run. Every weekday, there is a prescribed mileage or time and you are meant to simply run them. Don’t run fast. Don’t run slow. Just run.

However, the minute a runner moves beyond the beginner phase all of the complications start getting added. A runner must to do strides at the end of the mid-week long run every other week and intervals once a week starting with three and working up to eight, and run a tempo run that is “comfortably hard”…and, and, and….blah, blah, blah.
Why so many rules and guidelines? What happened to just running?

Today, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about Kara Goucher, an inspiring and up-and-coming American distance runner who seems to have done just that – thrown out the rule book and just runs (although I have a sneaking suspicion that that isn’t entirely true…regardless it is a nice idea). I’ll never be a runner anywhere close to that level but I’m motivated by the idea of “just run” because it can mean different things to different runners and still get us both to the finish line strong and happy…and ready for more running.