Feedback

First, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my posts so far. The number of readers grows weekly and has reached a level much higher than I had expected. I've also noticed that funny pictures and relationship stories are more popular so I will keep this in mind moving forward (except for this one!).

In fact, this brings up a topic that I have been wanting to write about, especially in the past two weeks as my training has intensified in preparation for the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA on March 16. The topic is "feedback".

Making the transition from playing team sports to running has been challenging and early on, I struggled to remain motivated without the immediate performance feedback of being ahead/behind in points and winning/losing at the end of the game. When running, unless you're participating in a race, that feedback is missing. Or perhaps, it's just not as obvious. Watching the olympics in the past few weeks got me thinking about this. On TV, in most of the racing sports, they show that imaginary blue line competing against the athletes, usually representing the time to beat. Wouldn't that blue line be exciting to run against? Maybe your blue line would represent your run from last week, maybe it would represent a younger version of yourself, or even another runner you aspire to be. Whatever it is, it would allow you to measure yourself against a standard. It would tell you whether you are winning or losing, even if you're alone.

I have found my blue line and maybe that's why I have grown to enjoy running as much, if not more, than playing team sports. It comes in various forms: My GPS watch tells me how far and how fast I'm running at any given time, my training log tells me how far and how fast I've run in the past, my lungs tell me how hard I'm working and my legs tell me how long and how fast I ran, my blog posts are a reflection of how I feel about running, and race results show me my improvements in training and fitness levels. I don't always run thinking of all these feedback mechanisms but I use the ones that are appropriate at different times to ensure that I finish my runs ahead of the blue line. These small wins keep me coming back.

This is why I run.

The Proposal

February 6, 2010 was supposed to be a regular Saturday morning where I would come home from my night shift, have breakfast with Christina and then head to bed for the better part of day. She would probably do some work in the morning, maybe run a few errands, and then make lunch, at which time I would probably start waking up. We were training for a race then so we had planned to run in the afternoon. After the run, I would get ready for work, pack my lunch, and leave for another night shift.

Wolfe Island, Ontario (Photo: Lucas Tingle)

Instead, that Saturday went something like this. I came home from work, had breakfast, and went to bed, as expected. However, there would be no sleeping. I was so excited and nervous about what I had secretly planned for the day that I couldn't sleep. Christina was even getting annoyed as I kept talking to her from the bedroom. "Go to sleep!" she kept saying. Eventually, I gave up. I got up and said I couldn't sleep so let's go for our run. We got ready and as we were about to head out for a 15 km run, I sat Christina down on the couch and asked her to marry me!

June 25, 2011 (Photo: Lucas Tingle)

I wanted the proposal to have a connection with running. I told her I contemplated proposing at the end of the race we were training for but opted for a regular training run, because it was much more meaningful. What makes our relationship special is how we support and push each other through good and bad times in everything we do in our lives. Training for races together is one example of this. The next hour and a half was the most productive run we've ever had, as we planned the whole wedding, and was probably the easiest 15 kms we've ever run!

On February 6, 2014, last Thursday at 6:30 in the morning, I was running at the local high school track as Christina was doing her weekly speed workout. I had done mine the previous day but went with her because I know how hard those workouts can be by yourself. Four years later, the effort we put into our running still translates into our relationship. 

This is why I run.

One of our favorite places to be together: On the road (Photo: Lucas Tingle)