A Running Habit

By Mickey Rosenshein

There are days when I push myself out the door. My legs are heavy; it's too cold, too hot, too gray. I run a few miles and I stop, or I drag myself along wondering why I bother. But after 1 push myself for several miles I begin to appreciate the run. Other days I'm light, I have a steady rhythm in my pace and breathing. I love the cool crispness or the hot sweat on my face and arms. My body is working hard and it feels good.

When I first started running I had a culture shock. After I realized I could run one mile, then five, I was hooked. I read books and magazines on running, went to running workshops and joined a running club--where I talked to other runners about running. After this initial intensity I realized that basically running is putting one foot in front of the other. That's it! However, joining a club gave me valuable information about training and preventing injuries, and most importantly gave me a network of other runners who helped me stretch my own limits. A friend who had run alone for several years and then began running with another woman told me how different it was, how she enjoyed her running more and was able to improve her time and distance. Talking with someone else lets the miles go by.

As an adult, it has been too easy for me to slide by physically. Mentally I make demands on myself, but there were too 'few times I pushed myself physically. I can only compare the sense of accomplishment from a long hard run to the exhilaration of white water rafting or a backpacking trip. Running forces me to expand my physical limits.

I ran my first marathon last May after four years of running. I had a hard time committing myself to it because I didn't really believe I could do it. But I began to train. I increased my mileage from 40 to 60 miles per week; this schedule included several fifteen, seventeen and twenty mile runs. I had run long before, but only when I felt like it. I always did my long runs with someone else, especially when it was cold, afraid that I would wind up on SOM Center Road and not be able to make it back. That had happened before and I'd taken the bus back or called a friend to pick me up. Anyway, I trained but I still didn't feel that I had done enough.

The day of the marathon was warm and very humid, disastrous for a long run. I still couldn't decide if I should run. What if this was not a good running day for me? I started with 2,000 other runners, less than 200 of them women. Four quarts of water and four and a half hours later, I finished the race. Afterwards I was amazed to realize that my body didn't have as hard a time as my mind. Physically I could run the race, but my mind had a

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hard time envisioning that I could. I was stronger than I thought.

This same mind/body conflict happened when I thought about running outside in the winter; the thought was worse than actually doing it. (I wonder how many times we miss out on experiences this way.) Another runner invited me to a fun run with a group of women on a snowy day. It was beautiful running between the snowflakes and hearing the crunch of the snow. After a year and a half of running, I had finally got up the nerve to run,outside in the winter. Now I only return inside on those occasions when the snow is several feet deep or the windchill factor or temperature is below zero. I have never been cold. Once you move, your body warms up, but when you stop the cold moves in quickly, especially when your clothes are damp and sweaty.

⚫ I often run on my lunch hour and people always ask what I do about showering. My reply-I smell! Running has given me an appreciation for a healthy sweat. It's not unfeminine, it's cleansing. Since I've been running, I also have a better sense of neighborhood. As a child I knew my neighborhood intimately because I walked in it every day. Running lets you notice the details of a house or its garden and enables you to appreciate more than if you drive.

After running, other physical activities have followed more easily. Weight lifting for upper body strength and cross country skiing seem natural extensions, but generally I feel more open to trying other sports. Even if I don't keep running I will always do some regular physical activity.

I have been running for four and a half years now. It's a firmly entrenched part of my life, a habit, a positive addiction.

Six hundred ninety-four women ran in the Bonnie Bell 10K Race on October 18, 1981. For some it was their first race; their goal was to run the distance. The veteran racers' goal was to set a personal record. Running can be as competitive as you want. The crush of people at the beginning of a race can be scary and I wonder what I am doing there. However, I quickly get caught up in the camaraderie of a race. It's great to run, picking up conversations as I go along.

The Bonnie Bell is the only all-women race in the area. Six hundred ninety-four women made enough time for themselves on Sunday. There must be some way to mobilize this energy.

If you want to try your first race, pick up a schedule at a local running shoe store. The Cleveland Heights Recreation Department with John O'Neil sponsors Runners' Forums, regular runs through the park and weekly coaching sessions. There are many running books out now, but Joan Ullyot has written several geared especially to the woman runner.

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