Thursday, May 22, 2008

What Do You Think About While Running

I'm fully into the marathon training period now ... or at least I should be ... And, each time I go out on a run, I think about things as I slog (slow jog) along. One of the things that seems to repeat is that I wonder why I don't run as fast as I did at one time. I think awhile, and start counting up the years. I started running about 27 years ago ... and I wasn't even a spring chick back then! Then I realize my decreased speed does not surprise me too much. In any case, while running, I sometimes think about the "phases of my life".

When I started running, I was at a major transition point in my life. One of the major periods in my life that I picture myself as having gone through.

These phases they might break down into the follow general categories:

1. Pre-memory -- The time from birth until the first things I can now remember;

2. Childhood -- This period would begin in the grade school years, and go until about age 10 or 12 or so;

3. The Middle Years -- Probably the time after the grade school (grades 1 through 8 were in my hometown) 9th grade was 1-year of Junior High, followed by the three years of High School; (the transition from 8th grade to 9th grade was a major change -- leaving the "hometown" school and riding the bus to another place for school and where moving from room to room for each class also happened) ... so this period was quite a change for a small town boy used to the same routine everyday;

4. College years -- Again a major transition, since I started driving (without a license for the first few weeks) when college classes started ... before that, everywhere I went was either on foot, bicycle, or riding as a passenger as my parents took us (me) somewhere ... so the college years were a time of real change, independence, and the beginning of self-discipline;

5. Shortly After College -- Marriage, drafted into the US Army, totally an 18 month period that saw some of the major changes in my life that still affect me today;

6. The First Married Life -- A time of starting my career ... drifting out of both my marriage and somewhat out of the first career, and landing, upright for the most part, some number of years later. This was quite a major life phase with so much happening in the period of 10 to 12 years. Some of the best ... some of the worst;

7. The Beginning of My Current Life -- new jobs ... new marriage ... liking what I was doing, and after all was said and done ... finding myself;

8. The Now Life -- Still wondering what I am going to do when I finally grow up ... but realizing that I am/have grown up and this is what I am today.

So, these are the "life phases" that I think of myself as having lived. It looks like I broke it down into eight categories ... "My Life" periods of time. I have wondered where I would have changed something. And, if I had taken another path, what would my life be today? I know I can think of a number of places where a decision could have been made that, now anyway, it seems another decision would have been a better decision to have been made than the one I made at that time. But, where I am today is where I really enjoy being, so I am not sure that I would switch to another path. But, maybe. It would be interesting to have that option in one's life, wouldn't it? I wonder where I would be instead of where I am today. Would I feel better? I'm not sure.

So ... this is what I think about while out on my long runs. Pretty crazy I guess.

1 comment:

Amy@RunnersLounge said...

Those long runs bring out the most interesting thoughts. I find all the stuff "simmering" in the back of my head just kinda work themselves out in a long run. I guess thats why we love them so much.

I couldn't get much "big" stuff done in my life without my long run time.

Amy
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