Last week I had a setback one day — this happens in our line of work. We get literal “rejections” all the time. This was a big one that stung and made me feel professionally incompetent for a few hours.
Anita asked me what I was going to do to pamper myself later that day. I said I might go for a night run. Now, to some this may not seem like pampering. But it has been hot and I hadn’t managed to get out. To top it all off, I’d been at the dentist earlier that day (yeah: talk about a banner day! A rejection and two fillings!) and the freezing just hung on way beyond what seemed reasonable.
By the time my mouth un-numbed just after 9, and I was still in a bit of a funk, I threw on my running gear and was about to grab my Garmin Forerunner when a little voice inside said, “Leave it.” Then I reached for my Timex Ironman watch, thinking at least I could time myself if not track pace and mileage. But the little voice spoke again: “Leave that too.”
Out I went, just after dusk, with no gadgets (well, okay, I had my Pulse, but that’s because of the step challenge and I’m not about to forgo tracking steps that I’m going to get anyway).
Upshot: it was wonderful. I felt free and at peace. The night air was a perfect temperature and even after my planned route I didn’t want to come in. I ended up running around the block a few more times.
How about you? Do you ever go night running? Do you ever run without gadgets? Have you ever done both at the same time??
I started as a night runner, actually. As a teen, I did most of my running around my neighborhood at night. I loved the sense of isolation and privacy. Glad you were able to find some peace in an unstructured run.