Last spring, I signed up for my first 5K run. I began my preparation by downloading the JustRun app onto my phone and selecting the female voice. I committed to listening to “her” as my coach. She’d tell me when to walk and when to run. If I followed her commands three times/week for about 30 minutes, I’d be ready for a 5K run in 9 weeks. Simple, huh?
Maybe too simple. Surely, when she said, “run,” she meant “RUN!” Not just shuffle along as little kids toddled past me on the gravel path. I was sooooo slow! I thought she’d teach me how to speed it up.
Nope! This low tech coach hadn’t been programmed for pacing. I’d have to take matters into my own hands. I turned to Spotify and put together a killer playlist – some inspiring Rocky music, Queen’s “We are the Champions” which was my eighth grade basketball team’s theme song (we thought we were so cool!), and High School Musical’s “GetCha Head in the Game” to help me focus. I was ready to RUN!
And I ran like I’d never run before! (Well…maybe since I was a junior high basketball player!) Did I mention that I also included the song, “We are Young” by Janelle Monae? I felt like my 13 year-old self!
Until the next day, when my 62-year-old body felt more like 92. Oh, my aching glutes and hamstrings and hips! (If you’ve ever seen the sexist Brady Bunch episode where Carol plays baseball with the boys, and Mike cooks with the girls, and afterwards, they can barely climb the stairs, you know how I feel. Sorry, non Brady fans!) I was pretty sure I’d need months of physical therapy, and that I’d never run again.
Then, a weird voice rose within me, “Learn to go slow.” Huh? Learn to go slow. After stretching, I returned to the park and started again without the app and without the playlist. I walked, and eventually, I ran very slowly. It might have been more like hobbling, but I made it around the entire path, and my glutes and hamstrings and hips were feeling a tad better.
Learn to go slow. I resumed my regular training with the coaching app, plodding along the path without any music to distract me. I began to notice those around me – children playing soccer, teens talking and laughing, and a mother and daughter flying a kite. I was also present to trees budding, clouds drifting, and squirrels chasing each other. I was still going sooooo slow, but it didn’t seem to matter. I was recognizing faces, noticing subtle changes in nature, and feeling part of the community. I was connected to the park, the people and all of nature. I was learning to go slow, notice, and connect.
P.S. I completed my first 5K run last spring. I ran so slowly that I had a little energy at the end to kick it up, following two twenty-somethings to the finish line. I finished with a respectable time of 38:14. While I continue to practice going slow, I must confess that I’m hoping to reduce this time during an autumn 5K.
How about you? How are you learning to go slow, notice and connect? If you’d like some practice, consider joining us for our fall retreat, “Learning to Go Slow.” For more information, go to https://thepearldivers.com/learning-to-go-slow-program/. I promise that you won’t be expected to run!
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