exhibit B
If ever I travel away from my normal stomping ground, it is uncanny how quickly I will create a “home loop” from wherever I’m staying. Over Memorial Day week-end, my in-laws treated the whole family to a vacation in New Bern, NC and though we were downtown (with no trails to sniff out), I did manage to run the same loop every morning and see the same townspeople at the same time. I could have been in some scientific experiment (like The Truman Show) where they plopped me down in town A - as exhibit B - to see how quickly I would adapt my running routine.
Right away, it seems. On the first day, I did an exploration run with Dave - always a great way to check out a foreign city; on day two, I repeated the exact course with my daughter (even crossing to the other side of the street at the precise spot I had the day before); and on day three, I did the loop as a warm-up before some intervals. In just three days, I knew where to avoid the potholes and noticed the gardener had trimmed the hedges on Front Street. I was even angry that someone’s dog poop hadn’t been scooped - as if I actually lived in that neighborhood!
Why is it that a runner can make the unfamiliar familiar in only three days? How was I able to come up with a work-out so naturally in the middle of a mostly-paved downtown? I have found that the terrain of a place “presents” the intervals you should do … maybe the way a composer knows (or feels) how a piece of music should be written. New Bern presented me an overpass to train on … a small one (not like the monster hills of South Carolina’s famed Cooper Bridge Run - as seen in the painting above), for a small, “vacation-sized” work-out. After my warm-up loop (now my New Bern standard loop), I started on one end of the overpass, running against traffic on a single-person pedestrian walkway, and ran hard up and over to the other end … guessing it would take me between 90 seconds and 2 minutes. My plan was to do just 4 - out and back, X 2. I ran the first up hard, feeling the pure pleasure of my solo effort early in the morning - the salty wind hitting my face at the crest of the hill - then counting the metal beams as I ran down the other side 1.2.3.4.5.6.7 - with 10 seconds between each. All focus markers to become immediately familiar in my 11-minute symphony.
My total time on #1 was 2:00 even. Perfect. With 60 seconds recovery, I set off on #2 (on the other side of the road) for 1.2.3.4.5.6.7 to the top, and downdowndown for a 1:59. #3 was 1:56 and #4 was 1:55. Then it was back to the home loop, in reverse of course! (or what I call “pool” - loop spelled backwards) for the cool down. Exhibit B passed her test with flying colors.
Am I weird, or do all runners find a home on the road like this?
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No, I don’t think you’re weird (though you have to keep in mind these comments all likely come from runners — thus: pots, kettles, and so forth). I seem to do that every time I go to some town for 3 days for business, and I did it at Disneyland too (Disney at a 6AM-7AM jog is interesting — no kids or tourists yet, but everyone is coming in to work). I usually try to run an hour, eyeball some spots for intervals, and call it 6.5 miles to be conservative. No, I think you have lots of company; except that you’re faster.
P.S. I never cease to be struck by how much your daughters (in the photos) look like their mom.
Comment by Eric — 5/30/2006 @ 6:19 pm
Runners move at a very different pace than most of the rest of the world. We cover more ground at a fairly slow pace than any other group of people (with the possible exception of journey walkers). We often cover the ground at times when human interaction is limited. We see terrain differently from most people, because we really see it. How many times have you driven a road many times, then when you ran it, the hills were bigger, the smells were richer, and the pavement worse than you expected? If a course works, we’ll often not mess with it. If it “sort of” works, we’ll try to tweak out the bad parts. Thus, we do often create a “home course”. To me it’s the mostg natural thing in the world.
Comment by Scooter — 5/30/2006 @ 7:22 pm
hi joan, i love your cooper river bridge picture! though i have yet to run the new bridge, i remember several workouts up and down the hills of the old bridge. i was reminded of them while reading today. the wind, the water underneath… awesome!! i miss my charleston (and chapel hill) runs!! now that i am in a new place (not really new anymore) i have also found my own “home” workout hills and loops-funny how they have stayed pretty much the same since i got here. i vary them up with surges in different places, running them backwards (pools!!), etc… guess i need to branch out more, huh??!!
Comment by chris — 5/30/2006 @ 7:46 pm
No, as a runner for 30 plus years, I think that is quite normal. We tend to find our way and make our mark. It becomes a little bit of a challenge to do in a different place but, hey that is part of the fun to run!
Comment by Steve Sherlock — 5/30/2006 @ 8:40 pm
I always wind up with a regular loop if I’m anywhere more than one day. On a related note - I don’t really feel that I’ve *been* somewhere unless I actually run there. Otherwise, if I just see it from a car, it’s “just more TV” (as Pirsig said in ZaaToMM).
Comment by Fat Charlie the Archangel — 5/31/2006 @ 11:54 am
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