During a short visit to Chicago on my way back to China, I got convinced/tricked/coerced into running with my friend's training group CARA. I was uneasy about the run because I had not been "training" in the last two months because of the Chinese pollution, school stress, and general laziness. When my friend told me about the run weeks earlier, it sounded fun.
Waking up at 6 AM on Saturday morning in Chicago to run 6 miles was seeming a lot less fun when I looked out the window to see a fresh dusting of snow. It was even less fun when we went outside and determined that it was raining. When we went back inside to get another water protective layer, I had considered all of the scenarios of getting back in bed and never running agin.
The concept of group running is not lost on me. I was a cross country and track enthusiast for six years in high school. We ran in groups. We motivated each other. We looked on with understanding when we saw each other collapse in pain after things called "hill workouts." Coming back to America, I was excited to see what the business of running was like. I was thrilled to join in a group of other people who felt it was necessary and appropriate to run in snowy rain on slushy trails through Chicago at 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning. I was not disappointed when we saw numerous runners, CARA and other, running along the lakeshore path that morning.
We joined our pace group of 19 individuals and started out on a 6-mile run. I asked little questions because it's running--not much to know. Our pace leader soon taught me otherwise. Elisabeth and I found our places in the two by two running line. We were the second in line, and it didn't take long for us to resemble something like this:
Waking up at 6 AM on Saturday morning in Chicago to run 6 miles was seeming a lot less fun when I looked out the window to see a fresh dusting of snow. It was even less fun when we went outside and determined that it was raining. When we went back inside to get another water protective layer, I had considered all of the scenarios of getting back in bed and never running agin.
The concept of group running is not lost on me. I was a cross country and track enthusiast for six years in high school. We ran in groups. We motivated each other. We looked on with understanding when we saw each other collapse in pain after things called "hill workouts." Coming back to America, I was excited to see what the business of running was like. I was thrilled to join in a group of other people who felt it was necessary and appropriate to run in snowy rain on slushy trails through Chicago at 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning. I was not disappointed when we saw numerous runners, CARA and other, running along the lakeshore path that morning.
We joined our pace group of 19 individuals and started out on a 6-mile run. I asked little questions because it's running--not much to know. Our pace leader soon taught me otherwise. Elisabeth and I found our places in the two by two running line. We were the second in line, and it didn't take long for us to resemble something like this:
 |
| http://runningtips101.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/running.jpg |
Our leader insisted aggressively that we leave no gaps between runners. I felt like I had joined some weird military program in China and had to fall in line or die. My heels were continually clipped by the runner behind me, but I didn't blame him because he feared for his life also! Shortly into the run, the leader sprinted up to tell Elisabeth to move over two inches because she was pushing me to the middle of the path. Fall in line, or die. I almost forgot to mention the military chants that were happening. Due to the rain/snow, the path was pretty gross. The leaders would shout: "WATER!" "RUNNER UP!" "RUNNER BACK!" and my favorite "FOOTING!" which sounded a lot like "PUDDING!" Safety first, or die. It seemed so redundant to keep shouting water and pudding because there was water everywhere! I just kept waiting for someone to slip so I could watch the dominoes fall in a pile of pudding.
Back in the People's Republic:
Back in the People's Republic:
 |
| Quiet streets for early morning jet lagged runs no snow, no ice, no military march |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment