Running seems like it should be a no-frills sport. Just a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of sneakers, right? Maybe a watch and a water bottle, too. And your phone, and, oh, a pair of earbuds to listen to music or something. It’s sunny so a hat and sunglasses are must-haves. All of these things — despite how many — are relatively easy to carry on your person. It’s just a lot of stuff.
But we have to make sure all that stuff is in good shape and charged and full and whatever, and then running goes from a just-pop-out-the-door to a 45-minutes-the-night-before-and-30-minutes-the-day-of-preparation-extravaganza… and then just pop out the door.
I think I underestimated the amount of things I would need to successfully complete a long run. For the past two years I have watched Kimberly prepare for long bike rides and runs — getting things ready the night before and then filling up a cooler before she heads out the door for her training — and thought maybe she just really likes being prepared. I’m more of a make-a-list-and-do-it-when-I-get-up type of person. The preparation happens in my head, and in the morning I’ll put check marks in boxes of my overly detailed lists (like when I’m packing for a trip and my list specifies that, yes, I do need a toothbrush and toothpaste and floss).
I’m kind of a forgetful person. I lose things all the time, and if I don’t write something down I don’t remember. Sometimes I forget entire conversations. I talked to my therapist and my doctor about it and I probably just have brain fog or ADHD or it's a side effect of this medication I’m taking, so nothing to worry about.
So, anyway, I make my list, wake up, pack my stuff, and go out the door. I actually kind of hate preparing the night before. I don’t know why. It stresses me out, like I’m getting over prepared, like I’m thinking too far ahead.
I can’t really just wing it on a long run, though, because there are preparations that need to be made. As I scurried around Saturday night looking for my things and measuring ounces of water into flasks, I had a newfound appreciation for Kimberly’s preparedness and the utility of a cooler.
On Sunday, June 23, I ran nine miles — my furthest training distance yet. Preparation for a run that long or longer does not begin in the twenty minutes before closing the door behind me or even the night before the run. It begins a few days before the run when I start hydrating with Nuun everyday and making sure I’m filled up on carbohydrates my body can use during the long effort.
My longest run also means I had the most “stuff” I’ve ever had, and after the chaos of my 7.5 mile evening run after traveling, I wanted to have peace of mind that everything would be in order.
I laid out my clothes, including socks, a visor, and affixed the bike light to my sneakers (I have three pairs of running shoes and rotate them week-to-week). I calculated the nutrition I needed, filled my flasks and put them in the fridge, along with insulated mugs with refills. I pre-packed my gels, made a list for what I needed to put in the cooler in the morning before I set off for my run, and set out some odds & ends: sunglasses, hair ties, morning medications, earbuds, inhaler, extra water, and my customary pre-run unfrosted strawberry Pop-Tart.
I set my alarm to 5:20 AM and did my final preparation — a good night of sleep.
When the alarm went off, I was relieved because I had not been sleeping. I think I saw time on my bedside clock every hour on the hour. The morning was off to a rough start, magically (or not) made easier by the fact that I had done every possible thing I could to make my life easier the next morning.
It paid off.
In no time at all, I was dressed with my contacts in, hair tied, munching on a Pop-tart and filling out my pre-run notes in my Running Diary. I put on the vest, stuffed the pockets, filled my cooler, and by 6:02 AM, I was out the door, and off to the races.
I planned a lot ahead of time: my nutrition and hydration, what I would wear, what I would eat when I got back from the run, and my route. Knowing all of this before I even started running let me just focus on running.
I was so prepared I didn’t even need everything I had ready. Some of the non-used items include my earbuds, my sunglasses (I took them with me but it was so overcast I never used them), or my sunscreen.
As I was running, I thought about why I was so averse to preparing, especially because I’m an avid planner. My calendar is color-coded with time blocked off for nearly everything I do. I always want to be on time and I always want to ensure there is time for me to do all of the things I want to do.
I’m not sure why I’m afraid of planning. Maybe I feel like planning doesn’t matter for some reason or that there’s no reason to and it’s a waste of time. Sometimes I think it’s because the future changes so frequently so I don’t want to prepare for something that won’t happen.
But a run the next morning isn’t too far ahead, so maybe by the end of all this, I’ll realize just how useful it is — especially because distance runners cart around a lot of stuff.
New Writing:
When I’m not writing Running on Sentences, I’m writing and publishing elsewhere.
Last week I had an article in Charleston City Paper:
Morant’s new studio series features local collabs
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I make a checklist of everything I need on my long runs roughly 2-3 days before. It works. Great read.