Karen writes: Running by rules

I went for my last ‘real’ run this morning, 20km along the Maraetai waterfront to Duders beach with the Tepuru runners, I wont see them for a couple of weeks now and then I will be recovering, doing much less mileage.    It started out frosty when I left home, I found some grass covered in the pristine white stuff and couldn’t resist vandalising it with patterns of footsteps.  It was another perfect running morning, clear, sun reflecting on the sea, and I felt really good.

My time alone running is my thinking time, and even being part of the running group I get plenty of that because I often need more distance and keep going a bit further by myself.   This time I was thinking about ‘rules’.    What started me off were the words of a woman I got a pair of offroad shoes from, she said she “brought them and then got into the barefoot running craze”.   It got me imagining how nice it would be to strip things back to the basics, break all the rules and 'run freeeee'.   I thought about how many running conventions and layers of regulations we surround ourselves with, rules we develop over time or adopt from the wisdom of others in order to protect ourselves and make running easier.  I must have hundreds of these if I break down all the stuff I have learned from experience and wiser heads (and feet) than me.   Some of these rules are useful for being a better runner, others are good for preventing the things which would put you off running entirely if you couldn’t figure out how to avoid them.  Rules like…got over-pronating feet, don’t wear neutral shoes…don’t eat a huge steak dinner the night before an early run…never ever forget anti-chafe on a run more than 2 hours long…tri-shorts can be your best friend...take off rings for big runs because fingers can swell…drink…drink…drink….but don’t drink too much...     So like polypharmacy when you have too many medications, this could be polyrulacy…too many rules.

But I broke a whole heap of my rules by accident over the last week, and I have been very cross with myself for being so foolish.   It happened like this, I went away last weekend, and ran on Saturday.   On Monday, back home, I looked at the 2 pairs of running shoes by the door, and picked up the clean ones…my clean new shoes.   The others were the filthy, but not very old shoes which I’ve used for training but don’t plan to wear for the upcoming marathon.    I had calculated the new shoes were on track to be perfectly run-in for Perth, it takes at least 50km to settle the laces and make them comfortable, so after a run on Monday, another on Tuesday, one more on Thursday, they should have been super comfortable... they weren't.   On Saturday I put these purple shoes out ready for the Sunday run, and on Sunday at about 3am I thought, “my new shoes aren’t purple, they are pink, OH NO, I’ve been running in the pair I retired months ago with over 900km on them…how STUPID!”.  The worst of it was that I nearly put these shoes in my bag for Australia…that will teach me for being unusually organised and doing a bit of advance packing.   

So I seem to have escaped consequences on this occasion, fortunately the kilometres have dropped right down now its taper time, and I do have time to break the real new shoes in properly.    I figure I am not going push my luck and  join the barefoot craze though, I might wistfully think about being a fit young thing who can leave all the trappings behind and race off like the wind…but hopefully I shall still be running when the fit young thing has a few more years on their own clock, and is piling up their own compendium of rules for running survival.