Running in 2019

"he wanted to run, to feel the sun on his face and the movement of air and the sweat race down his chest. He wanted the peace of the effort, and the certain knowledge that it was a good thing to be doing. Not all acts brought with them the certainty of goodness, but running did."
- Robert Crais, L.A. Requiem

My watch tells me I ran roughly 1500 km in 2019. That averages about 30 km per week. I'm satisfied with that. It's more running, more consistently, than I've done for a long time. Especially given our Saskatchewan winters, and my propensity for travel.

I am grateful that my body cooperated, with less of the nagging issues that have limited my running for the last few years. I give some of the credit for that to various run-walk strategies. I started the year doing 6 min run, 1 min walk and gradually moved to 9 min run, 1 min walk. Nowadays, unless I've got an issue, I only do run/walk on longer runs (over 10k), but I still regard it as an useful tool for lessening the impact of running. I'm still limiting my running to three times a week (Tue/Thur/Sun). Occasionally I'll add in an extra easy short run on Sat. It's a laughably far cry from an elite's 200km a week or more. But I'm not sure I could ever have managed that.

I've been trying to get in a little bit more faster pace lately. Doing most of your running at an easy pace makes sense to me, especially as I get older :-) But if I'm not careful I get a little too accustomed to that pace and it starts to seem "unnatural" to run at a faster pace even when I'm in shape for it. So I try to do some faster running, but not too much (whatever that is).

I started the year (more or less) with some beautiful runs in Big Bend National Park in Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

And I ended the year (again, more or less) running on Vancouver Island and through the vineyards (and hills!) of the Okanagan.

In between were lots of regular runs around Saskatoon. I am always thankful for the trails along the river where I do most of my running, including the dirt trails that allow me to spend at least some of the time off the unforgiving pavement.

This year I managed 40 km in just over 4 hours, a half marathon (21k) in under 2 hours, and 10k in just over 50 minutes. The question for the coming year is whether I can do better than that before aging inevitably slows me down. Only a few years ago my 10k time was 47 minutes. It's not a war I can win, more of a delaying action. But occasionally I feel like I've won the odd skirmish along the way.

Of course, I'd like to run more. 30km per week is only about 3 hours. It's not really enough to get good. There are times when I probably spend more time reading about running than I actually do running. But it's a balancing act, if I do too much I get problems with knees or hips or feet and then I end up running even less. Sometimes restraint is the hardest thing. I'd much rather go out and push a bit than do a short easy run to let my body recover. It's like having a bowl of ice cream and only eating one spoonful.

I've always been reasonably light on my feet (helps to be skinny) and I continue to work on my form - keeping my cadence up, not over striding, and in general running as relaxed and smoothly and quietly as I can, and not letting that deteriorate when I'm tired. In the winter I usually warm up on the treadmill barefoot. Running barefoot tends to improve your form, and my theory is that doing that first helps sets the pattern for the rest of the run.

And above all, I try to be thankful every time I go out and run, not to take it for granted, to be happy that I can run, and not depressed because I can't do as much as I'd like.

Happy New Years to everyone and best wishes for 2020.