Secret of athleticism? • October 30, 2006 | 12:40 p.m.

It’s getting cold outside; most mornings when I leave the house for my run, it’s somewhere around 40 degrees. I find this to be the ideal weather for running. It’s easier to breath, I sweat less, and I have a natural incentive to finish — getting back home for a hot shower! And something about running in the cold leaves me feeling more invigorated and alert than I would be during a warm weather run. 

The change in seasons also makes me think about how things have changed over the months since training started. Back in August when I first began, in the first few miles of every run, I would listen for signs that my body was up to the task. If my body complained that my run was going to be hard, usually it was because either the weather was too humid, or I didn’t get enough sleep or food. In the later miles of a “difficult” run, I would sometimes walk a bit of the way. Once or twice I have even quit and walked the rest of the way home (only because you can’t get a cab in my area).

But my muscles grew stronger with regular practice. As the weeks went by, I graduated from walking when it got difficult to slowing down to an easier, more manageable pace.  By then I had eliminated many of my food issues by eating the right stuff at the right time. I also eliminated problems with running out of breath by regulating my breathing and my pace … or “running within the breath.”  This is a phrase whose origin I can’t place but one which I love for its conciseness. It forms a mental picture that suggests that pace is limited by an invisible but expandable boundary.  I can slow my running to fit within my current breathing boundary, or stretch my breathing boundary to allow for a faster pace. Each is a separate entity, though both are bound together and force constant improvement upon the other. 

My mind over time has also been conditioned to see that a generally lazy person would always rather be home sitting on the couch with a good book … or even a bad book … than out hustling.  I’m one of those who vote for the couch.  I will always — and forever — vote for the couch.  I can listen as intently as ever for signs that the run is going to be difficult.   But the trick to running is that whatever the answer, you have to run anyway. 

So, is there anything left to learn about running?

Actually, I still have many, many questions. I read books, browse the Internet, ask questions of people in the know, but still my curiosity remains endless. How do you go from 9-minute miles down to 8 or 7? Is a person who is running a certain pace destined to remain in that general pace range, or can she one day achieve a pace to be proud of. And can the mind become so good at disregarding the whining body that at some point the body stops whining?

This is an athletic endeavor after all. What does it take to be really good at an athletic endeavor? Think of the intense concentration that Michael Jordan was known to be in the midst of when he would stick out his tongue before a shot. Think of the intense concentration that has carried Tiger Woods to the pinnacle of his sport. Is that kind of concentration or any small degree of it a byproduct of athleticism, or are the concentration skills the driver of it.  Think of Dean Karnazes. How in God’s name does he do 50 marathons in 50 days? And most intriguing of all, how is it possible for him to eat a slice of pizza while on the run?

I think I will be at this running thing for a while.

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