Running for fun, running by feel (Guest post)

by Aimée Morrison

Here’s a story from yesterday. I went to the fun run with no idea what the route was, and then I forgot the adaptor that lets me plug my headphones into my iPhone. So I had no idea where I was going, how fast I was running, how far I had gone, nothing. So I ran by feel, reasoning that I could sense my own effort level, and having put in multiple 7.5 and 10k training runs, I was unlikely to poop out on a 5k. I just decided to follow the people in front of me, run a pace that felt sustainable, and trust my training.

It turns out I ran it faster than I planned but I had enough in me to do a big kick right at the end, just because. It turns out that when you know you are really well prepared for a given effort, even when things go hinky (no idea how fast, how far, the route, no music) it’s still pretty easy to get it done and have a good time.

Probably writing and sabbaticals are like that. Steady and regular low-stress training effort leads to race day strength, and a better capacity to absorb some unexpected changes. I surprised myself with that. I’m going to try to remember.

Aimée Morrison has been practicing yoga for 11 years, training in a 200 hour YTT in 2014, and Yoga for Round Bodies 2016. Erstwhile yoga teacher introductory to advanced at Queen Street Yoga in Kitchener. In her spare time, associate prof at UWaterloo, specializing in social media.