Saturday, December 20, 2008
Sick of being sick
Thursday night I went for the longest run I've done in probably a month. I was the regular Thursday night group run from the local running store, Sole Sports. There were close to a dozen of us, and it seemed like almost everyone wanted to go on the long route, 8 miles.
Lately, if I've shown up at all, I only ran 4 or 5 miles. It's cold and wet out, and I've had this horrible bronchitis that is only now almost gone, after more than a month.
But I was feeling good and I was eager to start getting some more mileage in, so I decided to go the distance.
You know why men are way better sprinters than women? Testosterone.
You know why women fare better against men in longer distances? Testosterone.
If you go on informal group fun runs, you know how it is. The women know the purpose of these runs. They trot along, chatting and catching up on the news in each others' lives. The guys start out easy, but if one pulls ahead, the others will keep up. It can very easily become a competitive thing. In the last mile, they can all just become silly little boys trying to outsprint each other.
Well, a mile into our run on that night we were all still in a group, when suddenly a guy not in our group came running up from behind, said, "Excuse me." and went chugging by.
I don't know what got into me. I set off on his heels. I tucked in right behind him, running as silently as I could, controlling my breathing. He wasn't going much faster than we were, and he was already breathing hard. I knew he couldn't be going far.
Hey, if the guy who passed last Thursday is reading this, please don't take offense. You're a good runner.
So I kept with him to his turnaround point, about a mile up. He noticed me, and we talked a little. He was out for four miles. He does 10 on his longest runs. I felt a little ashamed at not being able to just let him pass.
But you know why I didn't? Testosterone.
So anyway, when I finally got back to the store, I was feeling a little cold and my nose was running. The next morning my throat was sore. This being sick is getting old.
Lately, if I've shown up at all, I only ran 4 or 5 miles. It's cold and wet out, and I've had this horrible bronchitis that is only now almost gone, after more than a month.
But I was feeling good and I was eager to start getting some more mileage in, so I decided to go the distance.
You know why men are way better sprinters than women? Testosterone.
You know why women fare better against men in longer distances? Testosterone.
If you go on informal group fun runs, you know how it is. The women know the purpose of these runs. They trot along, chatting and catching up on the news in each others' lives. The guys start out easy, but if one pulls ahead, the others will keep up. It can very easily become a competitive thing. In the last mile, they can all just become silly little boys trying to outsprint each other.
Well, a mile into our run on that night we were all still in a group, when suddenly a guy not in our group came running up from behind, said, "Excuse me." and went chugging by.
I don't know what got into me. I set off on his heels. I tucked in right behind him, running as silently as I could, controlling my breathing. He wasn't going much faster than we were, and he was already breathing hard. I knew he couldn't be going far.
Hey, if the guy who passed last Thursday is reading this, please don't take offense. You're a good runner.
So I kept with him to his turnaround point, about a mile up. He noticed me, and we talked a little. He was out for four miles. He does 10 on his longest runs. I felt a little ashamed at not being able to just let him pass.
But you know why I didn't? Testosterone.
So anyway, when I finally got back to the store, I was feeling a little cold and my nose was running. The next morning my throat was sore. This being sick is getting old.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment