TheBanyanTree: Catch Me if You Can

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Besides writing the next Nobel Prize winning novel, yeah, right, but I’m up
to 6,067 words for NaNoWriMo, my other goal is to prepare to run for a 5K.
I’ve run several 5Ks, but other than the first one, I never really prepare
for it.  I just get in there and run and I slog along and I finish way
behind anyone else.  I’m the slowest thing on two feet.

About a month ago, I decided to PREPARE for a 5K and try to pick up my
speed.  I started interval training at the club.  That means I go like crazy
for about 30 seconds on some kind of cardiovascular machine, then go at a
normal pace for about 1.5 minutes, and then go crazy again for 30 seconds.
Each week I increased my go crazy time so I can do about a minute extra fast
and have about 45 seconds rest time.

Now I got to take it out of the club and onto the pavement.  When I run
inside on a machine, there is no wind, it is not cold or rainy or snowy, and
the machine actually helps in a small way propel me forward.  When I’m
running outside, it’s only me and the pavement.  And a lot of times, I don’t
feel like propelling myself forward.

I like running outside in the fall and winter because it’s cooler.  And
there are less people out there, so less people see me act the fool.  I’m
not built like a runner at all; I’m turning into a beach ball as I age.  All
my angles are round, there is nothing straight about me, so I’m trying to
straighten myself out by picking up the pace with running.

The first 5K I’ll run in will be in January, so I have a couple of months to
run on the pavement before the big race.  I just want to run a little faster
and not be such a big, slow slug.

I’ll hit the pavement this afternoon for the first time.  I’ll see what I
can do.  If Susan doesn’t run with me this afternoon, then I’ll bring my
laptop and ipod along and find a little coffee place to sip caffeine and
work on my novel.  I’d like to see if I can keep on writing outside of my
home.  If she decides to train with me, then I’ll sip on the caffeine with
her after our run, and work on my novel at home.

Writing and running – are they intertwined?  Before I started writing
yesterday, I took the dogs for a brisk walk.  Clouds had rolled in by then
and even though it was in the upper 40s, there was a chill in the air.  I
enjoyed seeing the abandoned jack o’ lanterns on the stoops.  We still have
a smattering of bright red color here and there.  Some neighbor kids were
jumping in piles of leaves.  And while I walked, I didn’t think about
writing at all.  I let my mind go blank and just thought about keeping up
with Shadow, the rocket dog.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple
life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the
seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year.
~Ray Stannard Baker