The irony of stiff and tired legs

A curious thing happened to me this morning, so I thought I'd share it with you.

I drove down to the local park around 9:30 this morning to take in the air and go for a run under the trees. This is a particularly enjoyable activity during the summer, since it is generally cooler under the canopy of so many poplars, pines, and other trees which make up the nearby wood, rather than "roughing it" under a typical summer blaze through a shade-less neighborhood in June.

In any case, I had hoped to go about 45 minutes for this morning's training session, but from the start things did not come off well. I felt tight for one thing, and having left the house with ample motivation to see the work-out through, I felt it seeping away through stiff legs as after about 10-minutes I quite precipitously ground to a halt. "Must not be my day," I remarked to no one in particular, snapping twigs as I walked heavy-footed along the trail. Unfortunately the weather this morning was absolutely fantastic for running, and it seemed like an awful shame not to indulge in the activity at so ripe a time.

Then all at once--for what reason I don't know--an idea stole upon me which quickly caught my fancy. A straight, 45-minute run of the traditional sort seemed out of the question sure, but what if I could break it down into shorter segments?

Having thought up the idea, I started the clock and ran (still quite stiffly) for 2:30. I hit the "split" button when I finished, and continued on at a walk. The walk lasted about five minutes, after which I hit the "split" button and ran again, this time for 3:00. I felt a little better the second time.

I repeated this exercise several more times until the clock read 45:00. While I didn't end up running the whole time, I found that by the end I felt not only loose and limber, but also in fine spirits. Far from a drudgery, the workout had been a blast. Each running section felt easier and faster than the previous one, so that by the last of them I was cruising along at a fine pace and felt no appreciable sense of fatigue.

I'm not certain exactly what I should draw from this episode, except perhaps that moments that seem low at first sometimes end well after all. Running today felt more like a joy than it has in quite a while, an experience I might not have had were it not for a pair of stiff and tired legs. Who would have thought?

In any case, happy Tuesday, friends :)