This morning was beautiful out. I started my run up at our camp and ran down the valley into town. As soon as I left i was surprised by a huge peacock sitting right outside our camp. That was really cool. There was also a thick layer of fog out this morning. It felt good being out running, but I missed being with the team. Still I got time to reflect on running a bit while I was out. I thought a lot about Thursday's workout. That'll be tough on my own, but I'd really like to push myself each repeat. I'm excited for that.
I read another chapter of my book. This time the author talked about to types of runners: the runner and the jogger. The runner runs competitively and the jogger runs to be fit. He claimed there are those in running who run for the joy of winning races, this being a select few, while many others are challenge runners, runners who live to challenge themselves. He then talked about the downside to both the prize motivated runner which is that there is always a limit to the number of races you can dominate, and then he talked about the downside to being a challenge runner which was that failing to accomplish your goals can break you if you let it and that running can sometimes overtake your life if you let it. I reflected on this a bit and thought about dean carnases' book ultra marathon man. In he book he begins running for ultra marathons and other intensely long races through the night while working through the day. He had only 2 or so hours of sleep and spent minimal amounts of time with his family due to his intense training schedule. He claimed it enhanced his experiences with family and work even though it reduced he amount of time he spent doing either. Focusing on this, I believe that running does enhance your day to day experience by changing the way you view things, but also can be a hinderence to the rest of your life if you let it such as it did with dean carneses. Although this is true, it's very hard for me at least at this point in my life to delegate too much time to running considering what I'm training for. I think due to the additional responsibilities gained after high school it can be tough to delegate time to work a family school and running, but it's well worth it when done correctly, even if that means waking up at 5 to get your run in which can often time be even more enjoyable and rewarding. I think for most people it's very doable but always takes time and sacrifices. I'd like to keep this in mind after I finish up high school so I'm able to always enjoy the sport and let it enhance my life while still allowing myself to progress in other areas as well. One thing i somewhat disagreed with the author about was runners motivations. I think that most runners are motivated by both the challenge and prize aspects of the sport as well as becoming fit. I think becoming fit is almost part of the challenge portion of being motivated. Each of these things are part of almost all runners experiences although people tend to put more weight on one more than the others. For me I would claim to be mostly a challenge runner who obtains a new level of fitness through each goal I am able to obtain. I feel like putting an emphasis on this will be able to help me run over the course of my life and not just throughout high school. To keep running throughout my life is a major goal of mine and one that I will continue to try and reflect on over this season.
Total of 60 minutes today
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