The Running Life

I just completed a 20 minute run. I had intended to go for about 35 minutes, thought about whether or not it was worth it, decided it wasn’t, and turned back. Would that additional 15 minutes of run have brought me that extra omph? Or could that 15 minutes be put to better use? I wasn’t too sure, but I decided to cut short my run. Perhaps that extra 15 minutes saved could be used to write. Hadn’t quite posted on WordPress for a while now.

I’ve lately been increasing my weekly running mileage. As of last week, I’m at about 35km; but I’m not quite done yet. Before the marathon in December, I’m hoping to hit a weekly mileage of 40 to 50+km.

But I’ve discovered a problem: Running takes time. Lots of it.

On a typical long run, the run itself takes about an hour and a half, maybe two (maybe more). The post-run cooling down/stretching period takes another half hour. The shower and post-cooling down cooling down (yup, that’s right, post-cooling down cooling down) takes up yet another half hour. All in all, that’s almost three hours gone.

If I start my run at 7.30pm (as I normally do), just half an hour after completing my meal (not recommended, but necessary for the time-starved), I get to bed only at about 11pm to 12 midnight (after being on the phone for a little bit with Lix, of course!)

Being an eight-hour sleeper, this has meant that I’ve been getting less sleep than I’d ideally get. It’s probably affecting me somehow, all negative and all, thought I can’t quite tell where or how. I’m certainly wishing on most mornings that I could sleep in, especially on work days. The good news is that I’m probably not crapping too much at work (if anything, maintaining). The bad news is that post-work I’m too tired to do anything beyond work, like living.

I just keep thinking there’s a way for better integration between running and my life. Is there a way to combine running, work, socialising, and rest? Another arrangement in which these elements could be balanced out in some superstring-the-universe-in-a-grain-of-sand way?