At Least He Never Walked...

By the 2nd of August, I was feeling comfortable running. In the initial weeks, the day after the long run was comedic- getting up from a chair or down the stairs was painful & clumsy as the legs refused to bend. Sundays now are not bad- no more body freezing, and I can actually get up & get things done.
Since I had started feeling like a 'runner', I decided to listen to a memoir of Haruki Murakami. Its called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. It is short and a very good read/listen, especially for runners.
One of the things that gave me great relief was listening to him say that all runners feel lazy and not enthusiastic about running until they wear their shoes.
Apart from that, I enjoyed listening to his account of runs that spanned decades. He ran the original marathon in Greece- that was his first unofficial marathon. Greece will be my first marathon too, so I felt a certain kinship with Murakami. But of course I am not comparing myself to him- he has run 23+ marathons, and a couple ultramarathons as well. And most of all - he runs the entire length of the marathon. He wants his epitaph to say, "...at least he never walked". I will be happy if my epitaph can read, "...at least she finished the race."
One thing that Murakami & I share in common is the right knee pain. Last weekend while running my 9 mile long run on Saturday, my right knee started paining & freezing. That string of muscle on my right calf had strung so tight, that I could now feel the entire violin on my right leg, with the knee being the head of the violin. And at that precise moment, Murakami started talking about his knee pain, "...and its always the right knee", he teased, as I started smiling through my pain. "Change the topic, Murakami san", I told him, and he did move on to discussing Gatsby but not before assuring me that all runners have knee trouble, and that he would be surprised if a runner did not. Apparently F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby when he was just 29!

Running Mate & The Shack

At last I found someone who runs at my pace in the ASHA team, so I have started running with her during my Saturday long-runs! Trupti is going to run the Philadelphia half- marathon (vs. the full-marathon I have signed up for) in September and usually has Saturday long runs 1 mile less than I do. So we have worked out a solution where she runs all but the last mile with me, and then cuts across the park to the ASHA tree, while I continue running the last mile around the park from West to East to the tree.
Running with somebody makes a HUGE difference and improves one's run considerably. We can talk to each other to distract from the pain, motivate each other to run just a bit more or a bit faster, and empathize with each other about the various body aches and pains. My Saturday runs now have a time of 13 mins/mile. I can talk the entire length (nearly two hours last weekend) without losing my breath.
Weekdays are a different story as we don't live near enough to run together. So, the next book to keep me company was The Shack by William P. Young.
It was not a great read. Or I was not the right target segment. After reading A New Earth & The Secret etc, The Shack seemed too childish. There were a couple of things that I liked and will remember- to have expectancy, not expectation. Expectation sounds final - inflexible. Having an expectation from anybody usually leads to disappointment. Expectancy on the other hand is a verb and dynamic- it can go up & down, and still not fail.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Spendid!

Back to my solo runs and audiobooks. I had liked the Kite Runner, and was happy to finally be listening to Khaled Hosseini's next book- A Thousand Splendid Suns. I loved it! Maybe because it was about women and maybe because it was about a culture closer to my Indian culture, but the story kept me involved and distracted for more than 11 hours (over many days) from my running woes.
What I liked also was the added experience that audiobooks like these bring, above regular text books. The pronunciation of certain vernacular words, the lilt in delivery that is unique to each culture is not something that one gets while reading a book. The way the narrator pronounced the names Jaleel, Laila are not the way I would have pronounced it in my head while reading. It was an Afghani way of pronouncing the name and added the enjoyable dimension to my experience of the book. Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Giesha, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Time - these are two other audiobooks that stand out in my memory for this kind of experience that the narrator brings to the audiobook.

I Can't Believe I Actually *Enjoyed* a Run

It was the 4th of July weekend, and I had an old school friend visiting me from California. He decided to join me on my run. As soon as we stepped into the park, it started raining. We decided to run anyway. We ran slowly to avoid the puddles, and that helped us chat as we ran. The trees looked greener and the flowers brighter after being washed by the rain. The park was almost empty. There was no heat or humidity, so it was a comfortable run. At the end of 3 miles, I felt I could run some more! I had actually enjoyed running- a first for me! It felt great! Another thing that happened was that I noticed that my breathing was rhythmic and even- I was no longer panting & puffing. Wow!

Running & Being Present

I loved Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. I had two chapters left to listen when I started my weekday runs in the park. The book in essence says that our life's purpose is to achieve enlightenment. It goes about describing how you can do that. I like the book because it doesn't try to 'sell' me any concept or try to make me believe in anything. I liked The Secret when I read it, but in hindsight, I think it tried to sell to me the concept that if I 'believe' that I will get something, I will get it. Yet- it helped me understand the power of positive thinking, so I would still recommend it as a good reading. But A New Earth- that's a book I would gladly gift to anyone who was willing to give it a shot.

That said, I had an interesting experience listening to it while running. Tolle's voice started talking about being in the present- to be in the moment- not in the future, not in the past, but in the now. I dragged my mind from where ever it was to the now and what did I find- I was now suddenly aware of my legs and breathing and the more I focused on them, the more sorry things I discovered. My breathing was not steady- it was too loud. I could feel a pain in my calfs and my knee was beginning to hurt too. I tried to 'accept' these sensations like Tolle said in the book - "if you can't feel enthusiastic about what you're doing, accept it". It helped a little, but after some time - I discovered more things. It was obviously my devilish mind trying to make mischief. In the guise of being in the present, it wondered if I had a good 'running style' - was I looking knock-kneed when I ran or was I slouching etc. "That is your ego" said Tolle, and my mind reluctantly let go of these musings. Let's just say that listening to A New Earth while running was good, but not recommended for a beginning runner on the first day of their run without a mentor or coach on a tough course. Its still one of my favorite books of all time.