Some Inspirational Runners

One small change in one’s life opens a vista of new possibility; but as with most endeavors, one needs inspiration to stay the course.

In addition to exergaming, running has become an integral part of my weekly plan. I actually work around my thrice weekly runs, and make sure appointments, drop offs, pick-ups, and everything else allows for the 1-2 hour set asides. I am self admittedly not fast, but I am consistent and persistent.

Originally all of my running was in solitude. I liked it that way. I still do. It gives me time to zone out, meditate or think projects through depending on the day. Generally I think of it as my time with G-d.

But over the last few months, running has become more of a community for me. There are a lot of people who run around here. You just need to know to listen for folks talking about it. It’s as though one becomes more attuned to certain phrases or notes when one opens up the possibility of a new chord in one’s life.

We all need heroes. Women who run here inspire me. I look forward to hearing their stories, and they make me smile when I see them on the roads. They’re all fabulous moms and ladies. Each of them has their own story. Here is a bit of how these women's relate to mine:

K, like all of these local women, is phenomenal. She balances kids, a household, everything else, and she runs….like the wind. Actually, all of these women are fast, graceful and somewhat like gazelles. She introduced me to my favorite 10K route, K’s 10K. She’s run multiple marathons and talks about it as though we all can…and I’m actually beginning to believe that that is the case. Without her, I definitely would not. I look forward to seeing her on runs, and ask her advice on anything she’s willing to discuss.

D gets us all out there moving our asses. She’s a ring leader and a sweetheart under her knee socked power running exterior. She’s definitely someone I’d want in my zombie combat unit.

H brings grace to everything she does. She’s like a ray of sunshine gliding along the mountain roads.

J was one of my first running heroes, and continues to amaze me. She is a brick 4+ miler plus other workouts wonder woman. I am generally in awe of her stamina and consistency. And she bakes. Well. And she’s a sweetheart.

MG is our sideliner for now. Before having her second child recently, she was winning her age catagory while 7 or 8 months pregnant. Just...wow. Right?!

E is a true anchor woman. She keeps it all together and tells us to shut up or put up to get out on the roads regardless of weather. I could see her strapped to the side of a mountain impasse with wind, snow and ice swirling around her and she’d keep going and convincing the rest of us to do it too.  I love running with her and appreciate it that in order to discuss life, class and the latest episodes of The Real Housewives, she slows waaaay down to keep pace with some of us.

T began running a few months ago with a Couch to 5K app on her cell phone. She’s come a looong way, Baby. She, E and I ran a little more than 8 miles last Sunday. She and I generally pace each other, but I’m admittedly the happy geriatric turtle of the bunch. Last Sunday, she ran ahead for the final 2 miles and I was so impressed as I watched her power up the final hills.

These women are some of the best of us, but we all have it in us to get out there. Whether a gazelle or geriatric turtle, we can all excel.

Who inspires you?

Acorns

Image by clocker via FlickrThere are many subtle differences between running inside versus outside; the most obvious to me is the engagement of the senses.

Inside treadmill running can be an intense workout. It’s relatively direct in that one may program in hill intervals, varying courses and intense pace. Basically, one can push oneself as hard as one wants via buttons on the machine itself.

It’s also diverting. Now-a-days most people run toward an enormous flat screened TV bracketed to the wall directly ahead of the machine, so one may watch music videos, DVDs or regular programming. Ear pods and headphones allow the runner to listen to what’s on the screen or something completely different. I’m actually surprised that no one has developed a way to play video games while one is on a treadmill, sort of like Gamercize’s step and cycle machines. If someone out there develops the technology, please let me know, as I’d like to try it!

Outside, one must deal with the course that actually exists. The runner has the ability to vary her pace and the route taken depending her fitness level and the level of workout desired. Once you’re on the road, though, it’s much easier to settle into the workout and allow your mind and senses to wander.

I do not run with music. It’s not a hard core thing with me, as I understand it is with others, but more because I like to hear the wind in the leaves, the birds chirping, the deer squealing, etc. One can hear cars approaching and their general speed, so that one can move aside.

Mostly I like the ability to think that running without music gives me. Loud songs with intense bass battle my mind wandering. The quietude that my own breathing and footsteps give me allows me the space to defrag my consciousness like I defrag my desktop once a week. My mind moves through my various To Do lists and I can make mental notes of what goes where, what needs immediate action and what can be put aside for a wee bit.

Image by joshme17 via FlickrToday, as the wind blew across my face, leaves rustled and a rabbit hopped into a bush ahead of me, I dissected an insurance clause of a contract. As that box got moved to its defragged space, I noticed that the air spelled a little less lush and a bit more dry-rustley, like autumn. Looking down, I realized that I was running among the first fallen acorns of the season and thought about the intensity of the impending cooler months. Not only was my entire body occupied in the running experience, but all five senses and my mind were engaged as well. For as long as possible, I look forward to running outside.

Gateway Effect

Image via Wikipedia

The first time I heard the term gateway effect was during the lead up to the Games for Health conference in Boston in June. Ben Sawyer, who runs the org and the conference, sent an email asking folks to think about health and games and examples of gateway effect.

I had absolutely no idea what the man was on about, so I looked up the term via Google. Ooookkkk….for those who Google it as well, you’ll notice that hundreds of thousands of links will come back for marijuana and how its gateway effect can lead one to becoming a hard core drug user. Ahem.  That was obviously not *exactly* what Ben was getting on about.

Yet his meaning quickly became clear.  At the conference, numerous side conversations led to many references at the podiums about the need to find and document examples of exergaming leading their users being active in other ways. The Robert Wood Johnson folks and Shellie Pfohl, Executive Director of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, were particularly eloquent in discussing the phenomenon.

At the time, I didn’t have any examples, because ECA works with gamers, who are using exergames for their own sake. The other type of folks we deal with in ECA’s Gamers for Health initiative are folks who want to work out, and opt for exergames instead of other activities. So we rarely see or hear about folks whose use of exergames have opened them up to other types of exercise.  Yet that’s exactly what my exergaming experience seems to be doing for me.

Until two weeks ago, I solely worked out with exergames five or six days a week, as I’ve chronicled somewhat through this blog. So far it’s allowed me to shed about 22 pounds, and the scale number slowly, yet consistently keeps dropping.

But then a funny thing happened. I read “Born to Run” and recalled how much fun running had been in my youth (a really long time ago). I needed and bought a lovely new pair of all purpose shoes that happened to be of the barefoot running variety. Then, at lunch last Tuesday, which was a day that didn’t require a workout in my EA Sports Active 2 challenge, I literally figured “why not” and went for a run for the first time in seven years. On mountainous dirt roads. And I came trotting back 3.88 miles later. It was amazing.

Since then, I’ve run a few times. My longest run thus far has been 4.11 miles without getting winded nor achy. Each run day, I wake up excited to hit the road and see if I can make it as far and as fast as the time before. Each time, I run farther and faster - each time.

Yet none of this would be possible without the exergaming, which got me into shape and keeps pushing me into better shape. Both physically and psychologically, exergames have opened up a completely new world and perspective on life – that’s their gateway effect on me and it can be yours too. Try it. You’ll like it.

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