Running Fast
Turned the Sweetbriar loop into 9 miles by going up to 54th St. Weather was seasonably cold with a nasty wind along the river, but otherwise I can't complain. E. emailed me from work at 10:30 last night saying she didn't anticipate being able to get up in time, so I ran solo. Time was 73:05.
Before I went out I again took a few minutes to go over the day's scripture readings. This is a new way to read, as I don't have the time to ponder what I read. Instead I pull out what I get to be the main theme and take it with me on the run. This morning it was fasting.
Fasting presents problems when one is in training. But training is also a handy excuse not to fast. So how to tell the difference. While I was pondering this I was also pondering whether to go 9 this morning. Both processes ended up being very similar. First, in a kind of parallel back and forth fashion I decided in principle that I was going to both fast today and go 9.
Then the question became one of logistics. For the latter, I quickly figured out a course extension that would give me the extra mile. For the former, figuring out how to stay hungry while adequately nourished was a bit more complicated. I finally settled on what could either alternately be called the anti-Atkins diet for a day or the prison fast - basically bread and water. The only exception I feel okay making is the cup of coffee I just had, not so much because I'm a caffeine addict but because of its role as a de facto cover charge for letting me sit at Green Line Cafe and read over stuff on spatial data analysis (in the spirit of the fast, however, I replaced my regular latte with straight, black coffee). I also picked up my lunch there - two raw bagels.
The rest of the run was spent rendering both of these intentions into faits accomplis. Again, convincing myself that I was going to fast was tougher than accepting the extra mile. But doing it did pay off, as when I got in the house I went to the pantry and had the Cream of Wheat in my hand before snapping to the fact that this wasn't gonna happen this morning.
A little victory, a little exercise in pairing running and faith. For today, that'll work.
Before I went out I again took a few minutes to go over the day's scripture readings. This is a new way to read, as I don't have the time to ponder what I read. Instead I pull out what I get to be the main theme and take it with me on the run. This morning it was fasting.
Fasting presents problems when one is in training. But training is also a handy excuse not to fast. So how to tell the difference. While I was pondering this I was also pondering whether to go 9 this morning. Both processes ended up being very similar. First, in a kind of parallel back and forth fashion I decided in principle that I was going to both fast today and go 9.
Then the question became one of logistics. For the latter, I quickly figured out a course extension that would give me the extra mile. For the former, figuring out how to stay hungry while adequately nourished was a bit more complicated. I finally settled on what could either alternately be called the anti-Atkins diet for a day or the prison fast - basically bread and water. The only exception I feel okay making is the cup of coffee I just had, not so much because I'm a caffeine addict but because of its role as a de facto cover charge for letting me sit at Green Line Cafe and read over stuff on spatial data analysis (in the spirit of the fast, however, I replaced my regular latte with straight, black coffee). I also picked up my lunch there - two raw bagels.
The rest of the run was spent rendering both of these intentions into faits accomplis. Again, convincing myself that I was going to fast was tougher than accepting the extra mile. But doing it did pay off, as when I got in the house I went to the pantry and had the Cream of Wheat in my hand before snapping to the fact that this wasn't gonna happen this morning.
A little victory, a little exercise in pairing running and faith. For today, that'll work.
posted by seebo | 11:00 AM
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