Slow Zone


It was that kind of day. A day when I was fatigued, yet wanted to run. Decided to take a true recovery run, and so left my Garmin at home. No info about pace or time--yikes. It's how I ran for years and years, actually, but I've become a Garmin addict. What? No lame (but cute) little map to upload to the computer? 

 Confession: I knew how far I wanted to run and, because Garmin has told me 100 times how far out the Ohlone Greenway I need to go to hit the 2-mile mark (to BART pillar number 114), I actually know what today's out-and-back gave me mileage-wise. But. I went at a comfortable pace; I looked around, for a change, and saw some sights that are often right before my eyes but rarely in my consciousness. 




How about a bright orange house? 




How about a yard full of flowers?

I'm trying to keep my weekly mileage around 20 miles, and am thinking a Slow Zone run every week could help me do that by adding in some stress-free distance. Yes, I see the irony of scheduling a purportedly pressure-free run and then, just incidentally keeping track of how long it is in order to meet a rigid mileage number.

 But I'm ever the optimist. Who knows? Maybe this small start at loosening compulsion's hold will lead to bigger and better loosening. At least it might serve to remind me how, way back in 1978, I started running for fun. Could happen--this morning's run was fun!



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