Saturday, March 19, 2011

21 Days

In an effort to let my knee "re-generate" I've restricted my mind and body from all things running for the past 3 weeks. It's pretty tough to know that I'm missing out on my training but I do have a pretty developed ability to ignore things I don't like to think about. I would describe this as me observing something out of the corner of my eye, or knowing something exists but not giving it my full attention. Homework, or my list of chores for example. This is a beneficial skill that I use mainly for procrastinating.

This ignoring gets tricky now that I've started my new job at a local gym. I literally spend hours folding towels, which I do facing a row of a dozen or so treadmills with people running at varying speeds. In case that doesn't hold my attention, there's also a track circling the fitness floor. Often there will be an elite athlete checking off laps at lightening speed. Leading up to this exercise taking place in front of me is a set of stairs, so that I can observe people's muscles bulging out of their legs as they bound upwards. Meanwhile, I imagine mine wasting away. Thankfully, I don't fold towels the entire time.

The good news is that these past few days I've noticed that I can sit with my knee bent without much pain. Next week I may try a half mile and see how it goes. Since I'm starting at such low mileage I might even attempt this run in my Vibrams. Yes, the weird shoes that have toes. This minimalist approach has been nagging at me since I tried it last summer and now I'm almost ready to bring it out into the road.

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