Running in the rain

Tonight was my running night and so, despite a pretty heavy rainfall, I put on my gear and headed out. The run wasn't so great in terms of time or distance, but it was just what I needed. I'm trying to build my rhythm for working out so that I get into the pattern of run one, bike one, lift one, repeat, and like I said, tonight was the run one.

It wasn't a great run, but it was fun. If it had been just a tad warmer (it's about 50F here right now) I would have headed out without the hoodie, just shorts and t-shirt. There's something about heading out into the rain fully intending to get soaked that just makes it fun. The walk home form BART in my work clothes? not so great. Running in the rain, really great.

I think it comes back to the whole "accepting reality as it is" thing which is so key to Zen (and which Texafornia from ZenTri spoke about in a recent podcast from ZenTri camp). My "knowledge" of Zen being pretty basic (by that I mean I haven't studied a lot of writings by masters, I've read accounts of the way they lived and developed my understanding from there) I won't try to pass on some teaching from this. For me it was more a perfect opportunity to experience the difference mind (in a Zen sense) can make. There was no difference in the world between my walk home (~15 min) and my run (~20 min, maybe 10 minutes after I got home) but the way I reacted to it was entirely different, and all because I headed out for the run fully intending to get wet.

The world is what it is, but they way we react to it is entirely up to us. I've now experienced that in a very profound way.

I am stronger than pizza (tonight)

Tonight was my first bike commute in a long-ish time, probably a couple of months. It felt much longer than it was given that it took me the same time it always has (around an hour). There's one stretch where I always feel whooped and wish I had SAG support and for some reason when I hit that spot tonight (it was already full dark) I wanted pizza so bad I could almost taste it. Then, just a few blocks from home I passed a Little Caesar's and I still wanted pizza, even if it was pizza pizza.

But no, I'll be good and heat up my stew.

Running > aggravation

Without going into details, by the time I was heading out of work today I was miffed. or peeved. or salty. Take your pick. Personally, I'm going with so aggravated my eyes were bleeding. There are a number of reasons why I felt that way, and none of them matter now.

I was also very keyed up, almost jittery. So I decided to go for a run, something I haven't done for the better part of a month. On that run I ran (ha ha) into my friend Slav and his wife who live somewhat close to me. They were loading their kids into the car to go get dinner and we chatted for a couple of minutes, something else I haven't done for far too long.

A few minutes later I realized that I felt great, at least emotionally. My body was making it very clear that being overweight and taking a month off of running were a bad combo, but the borderline rage I'd been feeling for the last few hours was just gone.

Getting out to run, being able to let my brain switch as close to off as I can (I won't even get into how long it's been since I meditated), and pounding pavement let me subconsciously resolve the battles I'd been fighting in my head. Since there is nothing I can do about any of the things that had me so irked, I let them go. All without actually thinking about it, by just getting into the rhythm of the run.

Like I said in the title - running is greater than aggravation.

Rededication

Last night I did something I've been meaning to do for a while now - I shaved my head again. I seem to have an anti-Samson complex or something, the more I let my hair grow the less focused I get. I need my focus back because I've signed on for another round of the LiveStrong Challenge and want to have a better showing than last year.

As before, I'm riding for Team Fatty, I plan on doing the metric century, and I'm asking for donations.

Unlike before I want to train with focus, hence the head shaving.

In truth, I haven't done any real training since the Turkey Tri at Thanksgiving which some of you may remember whooped me, and not just because of the REALLY cold swim. I have a plan this time around (unlike last year) which involves some mild running and roller/trainer riding for a couple of weeks and then getting more serious. I've picked up a book (Friel's triathlete training bible) and will be keeping a paper log to complement my electronic on on ActiveBody. I will also be posting here regularly as I train, and because I want to shame myself into sticking to it I'll be posting those reports to Facebook.

The ride is in July, which gives me a good six months to get into serious shape, and this time around I want to do just that.