Running Journal 21

The World Cup is taking place in Brazil. Factions are moving toward civil war in Iraq. Ukraine is fragmenting into Greater Russia in the east and EUkraine in the west. And I'm not so self-absorbed that I can't discuss my precious workouts in the context of global events.

Speaking of my workouts, I seem to be stumbling into a new, not necessarily improved, summer routine. Because I teach on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Wednesday is usually spent working late to meet a Thursday publishing deadline, any running, biking and swimming is limited to weekends. So in my weekly planner I pencil in [run/bike/swim] in the narrow space for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On a good day, I'll do one or two out of three.

Let's be clear: there are no triathlons in my future, however, I enjoy the effects of cross-training on my legs and back, hips and shoulders. I always feel better after a workout, any workout, and when I come home after a run and a swim, for example, I'm ready for a nice supper and a drink to my health. Now that it's officially summer and therefore gin-and-tonic season, the warm weather and sweating make rehydrating especially satisfying. Sometimes I have two!

This weekend was not typical because I used a couple of vacation days on Friday and Monday to celebrate the summer solstice, and the long weekend gave me more time for yardwork, and there was a lot to do because of the abundant rain the preceding week. Workouts tend to be an end-of-day ritual anyway, so Friday I biked only, Saturday I swam only, and Sunday I biked and swam. Do you see a problem here?

Of course there's a problem here: there is no running in my running journal. It has morphed from a RUNNING journal into a running JOURNAL. It's a little like my Sunday morning ritual of stopping for coffee at Java Central on my way to church. Java Central with a muffin, a book and a notebook is becoming the prime reason to get up early on Sunday, and Church of the Methodist-Buddhist Master is in danger of becoming an afterthought.

I love a good dilemma, and both of these dilemmas are the right kind of problem to have. If some kind of workout - ANY kind of workout - gives me a reason to write, I'll take it. And if some kind of community can be found, if not in church then on the way to church, I can live with that.