I'm sure you can all relate to how your mind wanders,ruminates and thinks about a variety of things while out on an easy run. As someone said, and I have mentioned previously, how true is the statement,"I do my best thinking when I'm running." What follows are some thoughts I had while running down the beach the other day. 1. It seems that as each year passes I see more people,men and women, with bigger and more numerous tattoos covering their body. It's my belief that these people would be better off working on their physical condition instead of disfiguring their bodies with tattoos that fade and age very badly.Heaven knows, most I see with them need to. But then again,conditioning takes dedication and committment. From a Stotan point of view,tattooing is simply a vain and self-serving act.With that said,many years ago I got one for the reason just mentioned and regret doing so. 2. What's with the recent obsession with exposing Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat? Granted,my knowledge of professional cycling is not extensive but from what I understand, is that no one reaches the upper echelon of this sport without some type of "enhancement." I am not condoning drug use here. You've got to appreciate Lance running 2:48 in his second marathon while running fewer miles in training than I'm sure most of us did before ours'. 3. Put the cellphones down! Forget the warnings,I was doing a trail run last weekend and some of the other runners were wearing them during the run. Other runners went to their cars looking to check them as soon as the workout was over,at first I thought they were going to get water. Give yourself a break,that's part of the reason for getting out there in the firstplace. 4. I don't find many interesting articles to read in Runnerworld magazine but enjoy many of the things they post and offer on their website.5. Most of you are probably too young to remember but the yearly U.S. vs. U.S.S.R.(Russia) track meets held yearly in the '60's were riveting.This was a time when the "cold war" was going on between us and them.Pride and nationalism,as well as tremendous competition captured the whole nation's attention. It surpasses any type of competition you see in the Summer Olympics these days. It was high drama. Someone should right a book about those meets. 6. A nice thing about the barefoot,minimalist shoe trend,besides more business for the companies, is that it validates what Lydiard advocated many decades ago. Arthur said runners needed light,flexible shoes, not the "gumboots" produced by most of the companies. He also said that the shoes you train in should be no different than the ones you race in. Remember the school of thought back then that said you train in the heavier shoes and race in the light ones? 7. Now that the billionaires and millionaires that make up pro football and pro basketball seem destined for respective lockouts with no seasons forthcoming,do you think the media might devote more time to Track and Field? Give me a break,there was beyond minimal coverage in my area of the Pre meet. Why do I think there is little chance of that changing? Talk our sport up to others!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Random Thoughts While Out on a Run
I'm sure you can all relate to how your mind wanders,ruminates and thinks about a variety of things while out on an easy run. As someone said, and I have mentioned previously, how true is the statement,"I do my best thinking when I'm running." What follows are some thoughts I had while running down the beach the other day. 1. It seems that as each year passes I see more people,men and women, with bigger and more numerous tattoos covering their body. It's my belief that these people would be better off working on their physical condition instead of disfiguring their bodies with tattoos that fade and age very badly.Heaven knows, most I see with them need to. But then again,conditioning takes dedication and committment. From a Stotan point of view,tattooing is simply a vain and self-serving act.With that said,many years ago I got one for the reason just mentioned and regret doing so. 2. What's with the recent obsession with exposing Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat? Granted,my knowledge of professional cycling is not extensive but from what I understand, is that no one reaches the upper echelon of this sport without some type of "enhancement." I am not condoning drug use here. You've got to appreciate Lance running 2:48 in his second marathon while running fewer miles in training than I'm sure most of us did before ours'. 3. Put the cellphones down! Forget the warnings,I was doing a trail run last weekend and some of the other runners were wearing them during the run. Other runners went to their cars looking to check them as soon as the workout was over,at first I thought they were going to get water. Give yourself a break,that's part of the reason for getting out there in the firstplace. 4. I don't find many interesting articles to read in Runnerworld magazine but enjoy many of the things they post and offer on their website.5. Most of you are probably too young to remember but the yearly U.S. vs. U.S.S.R.(Russia) track meets held yearly in the '60's were riveting.This was a time when the "cold war" was going on between us and them.Pride and nationalism,as well as tremendous competition captured the whole nation's attention. It surpasses any type of competition you see in the Summer Olympics these days. It was high drama. Someone should right a book about those meets. 6. A nice thing about the barefoot,minimalist shoe trend,besides more business for the companies, is that it validates what Lydiard advocated many decades ago. Arthur said runners needed light,flexible shoes, not the "gumboots" produced by most of the companies. He also said that the shoes you train in should be no different than the ones you race in. Remember the school of thought back then that said you train in the heavier shoes and race in the light ones? 7. Now that the billionaires and millionaires that make up pro football and pro basketball seem destined for respective lockouts with no seasons forthcoming,do you think the media might devote more time to Track and Field? Give me a break,there was beyond minimal coverage in my area of the Pre meet. Why do I think there is little chance of that changing? Talk our sport up to others!
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Lance ran 2:46:43 on his second attempt, not 2:48. As for track, it's dead. The money is now flipped into big city marathons. Follow the money honey.
ReplyDeleteSad to say but these days it always does comes down to the $$$.
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