jimsjournal
| Running and Cavorting -- 10/08/02 |
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Running is something I'm trying to get back to doing on a regular basis and cavorting is something you can do to support Marn's campaign for International Cavorting Day.
I ran in the the CVS Downtown 5k in Providence back on Sept. 15th... and during the weeks leading up to that, after my running was no longer hobbled by plantar fascitis, I was working out almost every day, alternating running three to five mile runs with eight to ten mile bike rides. But sunset comes earlier and earlier... and the week after the race I was very busy with work and even though I worked from home two or three days that week I could not find the time for a workout (ridiculous, isn't it?) and I really don't know what happened even on the weekends... altogether during almost three weeks there I think I got in one short run, one bike ride, and one long walk with Nancy.
That's what happens to me... I miss two or three workouts and it sets a pattern of not being able to find time.... too busy, have to go shopping, have to fix dinner, etc., etc.
I was determined to break that pattern this past weekend and I did... Got in a run on Saturday (before going to Julie and John's wedding... where, come to think of it, I did get a bit of exercise dancing). Nancy and I went for an eight mile bike ride on Sunday. Yesterday I went for a run after I got home from work, three and a half miles on the bike path, got home just about sunset.
This morning, after Nancy and Sean left, my daughter asked if I was planning on working from home today. Nope, in fact I'm about to get dressed for work (i.e., change from shorts and t-shirt to jeans and dress shirt... good old business casual). She was thinking of going for a run and wondered if I'd like to join her. Hmmm. Haven't gone running with her in ages and I didn't have any appointments or meetings scheduled... So a quick change into running garb and off we went, jogging around the neighborhood. Sunny morning, refreshingly cool air but not cold (probably around 48 or 50), residential streets with no traffic, a quick enough pace to make it a workout but not so fast that we couldn't hold a conversation. After running it was time for quick showers and she was off to her nine o'clock class and I was off to the office.
I'm usually a solitary runner -- and I do enjoy running alone to a certain extent -- but I miss having someone to run with. When I first began running I was a programmer/analyst in administrative systems at a university and I would sometimes run at lunchtime with a guy (also named Jim) from from my department (and one year we managed to get most of the department briefly into running). I didn't run much with Adam -- he was varsity track and cross-country and even when he was in an off-season we were too mismatched, although sometimes he could slow down and I could speed up and do a few miles together. I had neighbors who ran, but they were training for marathons. My daughter loved to run almost from the day she learned how to walk (and she was walking at nine months)... Sometimes we would do a loop around the block together before I would head off for a run... She would run 100 meter and 400 meter kids' runs at runners club meets and then around nine began running one mile races. Then we began running 5k races together... at first I would just pace her, encouraging her, but in a couple of years it began to take everything I had to keep up with her... and then she would kick to the finish, leaving me far behind. We would sometimes go running together but as much as she loved racing, she disliked practicing -- which is the reason she dropped cross-country in high school. (South Kingstown High School is usually among the top women's track and cross-country teams in the state, very often state champions, and she did not like the intensity of training and practice.) Nancy dislikes running -- we take walks together and go for bike rides together, but no running. Mostly I'm content to run by myself but I would like to run with someone once a week or so... (My brother and I like to run together, but he's a three hour drive away, so that's not very convenient.)
As for cavorting...Marn started the idea and then it got its own website
and became a movement International Cavorting Day... I don't think any specific calendar date has been selected, it's more
like every day should be a cavorting day. Yes, I have appropriate cavorting
credentials, have been known to romp and frolic and cavort, both with and
without garments (back in the seventies -- my thirties -- I was known to
frequent a certain clothing optional lake in upstate New York). Let's cavort!
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