Photo: freebird (bobinson|ബോബിന്സണ്), Flickr Creative CommonsI just know that by the third segment I had left the group I had been with earlier and was alone in a house. The house was familiar in the dream, but I had the feeling that I was on a trip. I had put my two backpacks in a closet and not bothered to unpack anything because I knew this was only a short stay. I noticed there were a pair of chickens, a rooster and a hen, standing in front of a door in the living room of the house. When I wondered aloud if they were real or simply statues, the rooster spoke and said that there had once been a large flock there but the others had all been killed by something else in the house. The hen, he said, was a fake, meant to create the illusion of numbers and the safety numbers bring. From that point on, I was working on getting my things together to leave so that whatever killed the birds didn't get me. I still wonder what was in that one room with the closed door. I assumed it was a bedroom, but I never found out. Goddamn alarm clock.
Anyway, I've managed to stick to my running. By the time you read this, I will by two-thirds of the way through my 1.75 mile week and I'm only improving. The mild soreness in my knees from the first week is gone. I'm actually having to concentrate to keep myself even breathing hard. I probably should go ahead and skip to a longer-distance week, or even go ahead and switch to the 10K training program, but I'd rather take it a little slower and get to my goal comfortably than risk burning myself out before July. I'm glad I have the excuse of getting this done before I get home in the afternoons. There's no way in heck I'm getting myself up early to do this before work. If I tried, I would have quit by the second or third day. Once I get home there are too many distractions and excuses not to put on the running shoes and go.
10 comments:
I could never be one of those people who exercises in the morning. My entire morning routine is based around staying in bed until the last possible minute.
I'm glad you've stuck with the training schedule. I would have felt like a jerk for mocking you when I am so lazy. I would have done it, but I would have felt like a jerk.
I don't dream much. Or at least I don't remember my dreams much. I had an odd one last night but it's slipped my mind completely now.
That was a really interesting and thought provoking comment, Chris.
It's been a rough day...
They don't all have to be winners.
Are you a fan of Lost? Your dream strikes me as having that kind of mysterious creepiness -- in which you know there's a good chance you'll be killed but you don't know what sort of thing will do the deed.
I haven't watched Lost in at least five years, by the way, so forgive me if I've falsely portrayed it. It has probably switched into a musical comedy by now. If not, it should be remade as a musical comedy.
I've never even seen a single minute of Lost. All I know of the show is from news articles from Salon, Slate, and the New York Times about it.
The weird thing is that when I have these sorts of dreams, I don't actually remember being afraid in them. I had a dream involving a tornado the night before last and I wasn't afraid there either. The only emotions I feel in dreams are usually awe, mild happiness, and irritation. Everything except for annoyance is very muted emotionally in my dreams. It's weird. I haven't had a nightmare that I actually experience fear in since I was in Kindergarten.
Taking it slow is a good idea.
I never had the problem of having to make sure I'm breathing hard enough. Quite the opposite, as I'm sure is true for most people. Every time I run my focus is on regulating my breathing and keeping from huffing too hard. If I breathe too hard for too long, I get a cramp in what I can only assume must be my diaphragm. That cramp is actually my greatest challenge in running, and it doesn't take much to bring it on.
I grew up with (and still have, I guess) a type of asthma that was only triggered by sickness. I got bronchitis and pneumonia really easily as a kid because of it. There's a reason so many distance athletes are asthmatics. We have incredible lung power (when we're not suffering from asthma). My legs and will wear out long before my breathing will.
I'm in the same boat as you, Jacob -- not in having asthma, but in that my leg muscles give out long before I encounter breathing problems.
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