Asics' latest ad campaign features runners musing about what they would do instead, if they could not run. It's probably better not to think too much about all the great things you could be accomplishing with your life if you weren't spending upwards of 10 hours a week running in circles. The ads suggest crossword puzzles, bartending school and home redecorating, but I think I'd have to put language classes and learning to play guitar higher on my list. I'm also prone to that existential guilt that dictates that I should really be using all that time doing something truly meaningful like curing cancer and saving the whales. It's a sad fact that my favorite sport and pasttime that has nourished me so well over the years is, for the most part, a patently selfish use of time.
So as I continue to evaluate the mysterious and persistant pain that is my right calf, this "what if I couldn't run" question is at the forefront of my mind. The truth is, that sad eventuality would be unlikely to set me on the course to negotiating world peace or mastering Farsi since neither of those options would maintain my current considerable level of fitness. Instead, I would probably follow in the steps of so many injured runners before me and take to the bike and the pool.
 | Permit me to introduce you to the newest torture device in my life...the CycleOps Magneto. It sounds like a comic book villain to me, but I'm counting on it to keep me fit if it really comes to taking a break from the running. This was a birthday gift to me from the man in my life and a truly romantic gesture since he has one too and we'll be able to do tandem workouts on our bikes this winter. |
