Unplug yourself
Your alarm clock goes off and its your long run of the week. You laid out your running clothes the night before. You packed your gear by the door to make it easy to head out organized. You charged your GPS watch, and your ear buds, and your phone. The trail will have nothing on you. You get to the trailhead, ear buds in, GPS watch set, phone in your pocket, and music cued. You are set. Your run was amazing! You ran faster than your last workout! The elevation gain was killer and proves how badass of a runner you are. This run is definitely post worthy.You upload and post your results to Strava, Instagram, and Facebook. Then you check your feeds to see who else ran this morning. Where did they run? How much elevation gain did everyone do? Did they have as epic as a run as you did?
We live in a world that is plugged in almost constantly. Most of us runners use some sort of online or digital mileage tracker. We turn on our watches or apps on our phones, lock in the gps and track our run. I go through phases when I’m competing with myself to run a faster time or to hit that mileage goal on runs. These phases can last months. I find myself running hard every day because I do not want to post a workout that is slow or too short. I push myself. It is good for me, but there is a time and a place for the easy slow run. I said I was competing with myself, which is true, but I’m also competing with how I think the world sees me on the internet. Will my Strava account show how good I am? Does the world understand that we all need a slow easy day. Or maybe I should not post that slow workout. Then there is the wonder if anyone saw my run. I ran 8,000 feet elevation gain and no one liked my workout. Does anyone know how hard I am working?
Hold on one minute! Why do we think about all of these things in regards to our running? What happened to the good old run to feel good physically and mentally without all of this baggage? Maybe we should take some healthy breaks from posting our runs and having all of this technology on. Running unplugged from this busy competitive world. Running for myself and only myself. Running to enjoy the wind in my hair and the dirt under my feet. Running and not caring about how fast I am or how far I go. Running to let my soul feel free. I’ve been working on taking more time to run with no gear. Just my shirt, shorts, and shoes on my feet. Running with my soul. Soaking in the season I am in. It feels really good. It feels so free. I dare you to leave all the gear behind every now and then and see how you feel.
