Micro Runs

 

Marine Corp marathon, the fall after my dad died, 2009.  

There will always be a distance runner in me.

Kenny is not quite 4 months old, and getting so verrrry big…!  I must remind myself that his age is the important factor when attempting to train him on the leash to run.   During the past few weeks, we have gone out after work into my northerly neighborhood streets which give us some nice, relaxed stretch of blocks free of major traffic.  I loop the leash around my shoulder so I have one hand on the lead directly (like training a horse), and he seems to respond well to this soft touch.  Once I warm up a tad (sitting all day in a cold office does not make for good evening runs…) I start a very slow jog and let him trot along beside me.  On a good day he can easily cover a few blocks no problem, except for his ‘distractibility’ level.  On some days EVERYTHING is interesting, even the oil spots on the road!  Other days he seems more in tune with the motion, like I am, and we just trot along comfortably.  Trouble is, between the lack of focus and the heat we never last more than a few miles before every bit of shade becomes a good place for a nice belly-down in the cool grass. (Him, that is, not me! Although it looks like a fine idea at times!)

I have not logged any “real” miles in some time, except for Sundays, and my long runs have turned into ‘medium-sized’, due to my lower level of overall endurance.  If you want to be an endurance/long-distance runner, then you need the miles, there is just no other way to do it.  So cross-training aside, losing my weekday runs under my own solo full-steam has been a worthwhile sacrifice for Kenny.

But something else interesting seems to be happening, as I pile my little micro runs up mornings and evenings.  I have never been this consistent, on a daily basis. I have never been up at sunrise (our morning walk/runs) or out every evening like I have been now.   I may not run ‘real’ miles on my usual schedule, but I AM running EVERY DAY, even if it is in very short bursts. Apparently, I am conditioned enough and these years of running have created a good foundation, a base of ability that can now carry me through these changes.  So when I’m out on the weekends without Kenny, I still do pretty well! And the gods must want me to know this, because I saw a beautiful little article via Facebook that spoke exactly to the theme of running small miles, not big ones, as a key to overall health!

 I feel so bonded, physically and emotionally, with this amazing creature, Kenny, who is a natural athlete and will be a fantastic future runner, since he’ll likely have long legs and a big chest to serve him well out on the roads, no doubt about it.  And there is something magical about having him next to me, trot-trotting along in his own little right-brain bliss, just taking in the world, same as me.  Not talking, not ‘handling’, not training, just moving and grooving along,  taking it all in. 

I tried to re-engineer all this at first:  calling on dog-sitters or gating him back up while I took off on my own.  Trouble was, I have so little time with him around work; my conscience got the better of me when I figured I would just ‘go with it’ as it is and see how it felt.  I had to get over so many of my own deep-seated control issues and prejudices:  the will to be the distance runner in my head, and not the runner in my heart who took on this doggie project by responding spontaneously to the call for adopting a puppy from an abandoned mommy.   We never know how our lives will change when we give birth, adopt (child or animal), marry/separate, but we can trust it WILL change and ferment a new mix of our daily cosmology.  I am still a runner.  I am a different runner now, a different person- with Kenny.