My route began through a subdivision before hitting the edge of town. I live in a rural area and I love running out in the country. As I was headed out of town, I glanced at my GPS. Then I did a double take. I thought it was farther than half a kilometre from my house to the edge of town? Oh well…I kept running.
A while later I glanced at it again and realized it thought I hadn’t moved. I looked more carefully this time and realized it had stopped. So I hit start. Nothing. I tried reset. Nothing. None of the buttons were doing anything. Rats!
I contemplated turning around and going back for my trusty old stopwatch but decided against it. Fortunately I had run this same distance last week, so I knew exactly where to turn around. It would be weird though! How would I stay on pace? How would I even know?
I just ran by perceived effort. I know there are tons people who do it all the time, but I haven’t in so long that it was a little strange. At the same time it was a little bit liberating.
No thinking “this week I ran it 1 minute slower, but then I did stop to tie my shoelace and had to wait for traffic at the corner….” I hadn’t even noticed what time it was when I left the house so I couldn’t figure out my average pace when I got home. Sure there’s no measure of progress, but there’s also no comparison. No nothing, really. I felt good, yet disconnected.
On the other hand, while I was disconnected from time, I was extra-aware of my body. I don’t know if it was the absence of the distraction of staying on pace, or what, but I was really able to notice when my legs began to feel heavy. I know that sounds crazy, but usually when I notice, my legs have been heavy for a while and I never really noticed when it began – but somehow, today, I was able to pinpoint just as the feeling began. That will be very helpful when testing my fuelling strategy!
When I got home and handed my GPS to my husband, he had it unstuck in no time (a relief, yet strangely infuriating). While I had a good run today, I am glad to have my GPS back.
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