Why would you want to run slowly? Well, long ago, I decided I wanted to run long distances. I even planned on running a marathon. Sadly, that never happened. But I have run many half-marathons, so I am doing pretty well on that front.
I started doing this seriously when I went into the USAF in 1973. One of the first things I learned was that I had to run 1.5 miles every year to prove I was fit. I asked what the criteria was, and the reply was "Don't die!" Well, that is silly. So I asked what a good time might be, and found out that I should be able to do the job in around 15 minutes. So, I set off going to the gym each day with the idea that I would run at least a mile. I discovered that a mile is not very far to run, so I extended that to around 5 miles and managed to do that during my lunch break. (The Air Force gave us 4 hours a week off to engage in this exercise, so that worked well into this schedule.
LSD
One tactic I was told by others at the gym was to use LSD while training. Wait! Isn't that illegal? Actually, back then there was some silly drug named LSD, that really dumb folks were taking to experience the weirdness that was drug addiction. This kind of LSD had nothing to do with that. What this was was "Long Slow Distance" (weird sense of humor in there somewhere, I suppose).
They also told me that the best way to run a long way, was to "run a long way away". That way, you were stuck! When you got a long way away, you still had a long way to go to get back, so you would run that as well to get done.
Hey, it worked!
When I moved to SAC Headquarters in Omaha in 1983, I started running more seriously.Every day around lunch, I would head off th the gym to run. It got to be a habit, which is good. In 1989, the Base Gym started a program where you signed up, recorded your miles each time you ran, and got a tee-shirt with cool logos on it every 500 miles. Well, a few of us dedicated running types started in that program in January (kinda cold in Nebraska, then. They were laughing that they would not give away even one tee shirt.) I started out recording about 25 miles a week, then decided to push it up. Instead of running around the buildings near the gym, I started heading toward the back gate, then running all the way around the base. That ended up being about 10 miles each day! Wow, that was a bunch of miles. On Saturday, I would try to run even farther, eventually getting up to 21 miles. I took Sunday off, but even with that, I ended up averaging just under 10 miles per day for the entire time I did this. A few of us managed to show those silly folks in the gym that their idea about not giving away Tee-Shirts was not going to work. By October, I earned my 2500 mile shirt! (Special order, they never even thought that would happen!)
I ran my first half-marathon in Lincoln, Nebraska that year. We started on the UNL campus, and ended up running around the inside of the Husker Stadium at the finish. (That was the only time I ever set foot in that place. It is a place spoken of with reverence by folks from Nebraska, like my wife!) My goal in that race was to finish the half-marathon in time to see the marathon runners come in. I passed under the timer in 2:00:10. Boy, was I mad. I really wanted to break two hours, but my legs were made of rubber at the finish and I just could not shave that last 10 seconds off. Durn!.
I did see the marathoners come in shortly after that (2:15 was a pretty good time in those days). About four hours after the race started a gentleman came in and the announcer told us he was 78 years old. They also noted that this was his 128th marathon. He was my hero that day!
A few weeks later, and a bit more training, I ran a second half-marathon back in Omaha, and managed to finish in 1:35. Much better.
No marathons yet
My plan was to run the Omaha marathon, but I got reassigned to Albuquerque that year. I missed the race in Omaha, and got to Albuquerque right after their marathon was run. I did keep running, but the new job made my previous schedule unworkable, so my miles backed down. I did run a few more half-marathons while there, and even ran the La-Luz run from the base of Sandia Mountain to the top at 10,000 feet. It took forever to do that, and I could barely move when I hit the top. They let us ride the Tram back down, but then we had to walk another mile back to our cars!
After I retired, I switched to mountain biking, and routinely rode on trails all over the Albuquerque area. That was a lot of fun, with beautiful scenery, all over. (When you live in vacation land, where do you go on vacation?)
Fast forward to Texas
When I moved to Texas, I continued with running, still hoping to do that marathon. I was training fairly well, running 6-8 miles every day around home and along the lake near downtown Austin. That was a nice way to unwind from work. I had worked my way up to around 13 miles a day when the first round of cancer hit me. My doctor told me that since I was in such good shape, I should go for the full treatment: surgery (slash), chemotherapy (poison), and radiation (burn). I did exactly that, and managed to get through the process with good results.
Unfortunately, the combination of treatments took something out of me. When I finally got back into running, I could not run nearly as fast, and my motivation to try harder was not as strong. So I played with running to try to keep in shape, but never got back into it the way I was before.
Now, with a second round of cancer treatments facing me, my doctors have told me to get out and do it again. So, I am running, just slowly. What amazes me is that in a lung capacity test one doctor gave me, I was told I had the lungs of a 45 year old. (Hope he does not want them back - Yuk, Yuk!). I started off on day one doing this and kept the distance down to three miles. I never even broke out in a sweat. So, I cranked the distance up more, and am back up to six miles now. It takes over 80 minutes to do, but that is fine by me.
How to run slowly
You ought to exercise, and do it often. For me, that means running. I am back to running until the surgery happens, then it will stop for a while. Running, even slowly, lets me take my mind off of the mess my life is at the moment, and enjoy the outdoors, barking dogs, flowers, weeds, even the occasional deer. It is just fun. Going slowly means I am more concerned with the distance than the speed. If I push too hard, I will not make the distance, so I back off a bit. (I have been annoyed by fast walkers who pass me, but that does not happen often.) My "running" means I try to get my body off of the ground each step, not just look like I am running, but am actually just waking. You would be amazed at the difference it makes just getting your body up off the ground.
My running path is wherever I want to go. I explore my neighborhood, never going the same way each day. I know just about where every road goes in something like a five mile area surrounding my home. That makes my wife a bit nervous, since if I keel over, she will not know where to find me. The solution to that is simple. "There is an app for that!" I have an iPhone app that sends my location back to a web page she can watch as I run. It shows my location on a map, and even lets her send out a cheer over my phone. I listen to the music, and every once in a while, hear cheering to motivate me on. That make me feel really nice, and I look forward to those moments. She is much happier knowing I am still plodding along, doing my running thing.
Life can be fun, if you live it right! Even in the middle of troubles, you can still do things to keep yourself moving in a positive direction. Running slowly does that for me, these days. I hope to continue it after my recovery from surgery in a few weeks!
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