Running thoughts…

Last night I had a fartlek scheduled for my run workout.  No snickering!  Fartlek has a Swedish origin - meaning ‘speed play’…just in case you might have confused it with GI issues. 

I took a different route out of curiosity…sirens, lots of them, not far from home and a helicopter hovering overheard beckoned me.  The theme song intro of a COPS episode was on repeat in my head “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?  Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” (By the way, it’s tough to focus on my downloaded IMTalk podcast with Bevan and John when I’m rockin’ it out to an Inner Circle bad boy beat).

Well, it looks like the bad boys found out very quickly when police set-up a roadblock and the result was something more like crash test dummies (i.e. bad boys) meets a propane tanker truck and a police cruiser.  It could have been so much worse.  Alas, for those rush-hour commuters that had to sit through major delays – it would have been nasty.

Outcome: minor injuries, arrest, and realization that some barriers/obstacles/forced stops (perceived or real) are good things – reevaluate, adjust behaviour/actions, improve.

Heart rate up and blood pumping, it was time for my first fartlek and my legs felt great.  My feet felt like they had wings attached.  What a great feeling.  The parting words of the IMTalk podcast is always ‘Kia Kaha’ (Maori) which basically means ‘be strong’ or ‘achieve strength’…and it worked….until…

I got to my turnaround point and was ready to reverse my route…huh?  I don’t remember the wind?  Gusts up to 50km/hr.  Well, of course not…it had been at my back up to this point!  No wonder I had felt so good.  Mother Nature had given me a helping hand and was ready to inflict a little pain now.  Mental toughness, ‘be strong’ - Kia Kaha was needed to kick into gear.  And…it did!

Outcome:  more sweat, higher PE, still felt strong, and realization that some obstacles/barriers/forced stops (perceived or real) are good things – reevaluate, adjust behaviour/actions, improve. 

During the cool-down, I decided to make a detour.  There is a house that I pass occasionally while running that is different from all the others in that neighbourhood.  Each time I run past, there is an impromptu smile – I can’t help it!  In fact, I envision the owners having perma-smile.  I don’t know if the occupants are happy or not, but if you were to see their ‘yard art’ the seemingly obvious conclusion would be ‘YES’. 

Each new season offers up a new display and I was rewarded with post-Easter festiveness all over their front lawn and hanging from their trees (inflatable bunnies, egg garlands, baskets of eggs…oh, and lots of garden gnomes!) – photo only shows a small sampling.  One can only assume that this would be the Easter Bunny’s first stop (without opening up a discussion on the validity of said herbivore’s ability to take on such a role, if such a role were to exist).

I stopped to take it all in…and smile.

Outcome: HR was coming back down, body felt ‘that good-tired feeling’, my smile went from ear-to-ear, and this short stop on my run made me realize that there are times that we aren’t forced to stop, but we should – reevaluate, adjust behaviour/actions, and improve.

Kia Kaha