It’s About Time

Posted on February 17, 2012. Filed under: Running | Tags: #running, change, fitness, Guam, half marathon, health, marathon, running |

I stopped wearing a watch nearly four years ago when I started working from home. There was no reason to wear one anymore, since my house had a clock visible from nearly every room and I spent much of my time in front of a computer anyway. Funny thing, time. It seems to change when you feel like you own it.

It made me think a lot about what my attitude toward time had been, particularly how much time I wasted because of the mindset I had adopted. I often thought of Henry Thoreau saying, “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” I had been injuring eternity all right, by doing a lot of nothing, or by doing the same thing. Stagnating, which is what happens when we feel like we’re moving backward or standing still.

I had experienced the feeling of time standing still when I moved in the dead of winter from Chicago to Guam, a tropical island near the foot of the Mariana Trench. In Guam, it’s always the same temperature and flowers are always in bloom. The seasons never change. Sound like paradise? Maybe. Until you realize that months and then years have passed with each day essentially the same.

I realized then the importance of seasons in triggering change—not only the obvious, outward changes like leaves first budding then browning, but the change that begins within, with us. When we stand still we stagnate. We do the same thing, repeatedly follow the same routine until it becomes thoughtless habit, like brushing our teeth. We get in a rut without realizing it, and before we know it, we are standing still. It’s as if time has stopped.

This can happen with running, or any other form of exercise. If you do the same thing again and again, your body stops responding to what you’re doing with your time, and you get nowhere. Fast. Has your pace stalled at the x-minute mile? Are you running the same number of miles a week you always have been, but suddenly seeing dimples show up on your thighs instead of your smile? It’s time, then, to do something different. It’s time to own the time you put into your workout.

It’s critical to change your routine, even if the change is as simple as taking a new route on your run or adding extra weight or reps to your workout. Your body will respond positively and thank you for it.

It’s almost spring—isn’t it about time for that change?