Thoughts to contemplate on those long runs

[Big Joel]

I like to listen to music while I run. I love to get lost in the songs and sometimes find myself air-drumming while I run. I've gotten some strange looks along the way but when you are running barefoot or in funky minimalist shoes, you get strange looks anyway, right? Other than that, I usually try to think of anything but work. For me, the music helps with the zoning-out (like meditation).

On a side note, for the math folks above... A friend of mine told me he would try to come up with the numerical value of different words where A=1 and Z=26. Each letter gets a numerical value, then add it up. He said he would do that while playing soccer and would calculate the names of the other players for fun. I'm no math wiz (actually a lawyer and we all know us lawyers dont do numbers) but thought you might find that entertaining for your long runs.

 

[skedaddle]

I like to listen to music while I run. I love to get lost in the songs and sometimes find myself air-drumming while I run. I've gotten some strange looks along the way but when you are running barefoot or in funky minimalist shoes, you get strange looks anyway, right? Other than that, I usually try to think of anything but work. For me, the music helps with the zoning-out (like meditation).

Ha Ha i can so relate that, air drumming or letting one rip, for some reason running gives me gas and with the music on i forget that people can here me and wonder why i'm getting all the the strange looks. Must be because I'm barefoot i reason.

 

[dutchie53]

What kind of dog is he, dutchie?

A mutt that was adopted from the SPCA. A Collie/Lab cross, well behaved dog, never have to leash him when we are out for a run, as he does not chase anything (animals or people), or stop to sniff every tree. Been running with him now for 7 years, that is how he knows all of my routes.

 

[Bare Lee]

I have two basic thoughts, from which all others derive:
1.) Am I delusional to the point of being insane?
2.) If I really am a chipmunk, how come I can see hundreds of feet in front of me?

 

[ChasingShadows]

I have two basic thoughts, from which all others derive:
1.) Am I delusional to the point of being insane?
2.) If I really am a chipmunk, how come I can see hundreds of feet in front of me?

Chipmunk feet?

I usuallly just have a random stream of conciousness going through my head, with nothing much staying in there for more than a few seconds. Occassionally I come up with answers to work or life problems, more often I have internal conversations with seagulls (because speaking to them out loud is obviously what would make that weird).

 

[RunningPirate]

I have two basic thoughts, from which all others derive:
1.) Am I delusional to the point of being insane?
2.) If I really am a chipmunk, how come I can see hundreds of feet in front of me?

The good news is that if you're aware that you're delusional, then you're not actually delusional. Remember: Crazy people don't think they're crazy; they think the rest of us NOT wearing aluminum foil hats are crazy...

If you were a chipmunk how many feet should you see in front of you? What is the focal distance of a chipmunk? (yes...yes, I know: African or European?)

...and along those lines:

1) If God is all-powerful, can he make a boulder so large that he can't lift it? [Credit: George Carlin]
2) Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?

 

[Big Joel]

Ha Ha i can so relate that, air drumming or letting one rip, for some reason running gives me gas and with the music on i forget that people can here me and wonder why i'm getting all the the strange looks. Must be because I'm barefoot i reason.

HAHA!! Isnt that just the jet propulsion helping to move you along? Hmmm.... maybe thats a thought for long runs. Does farting during running make you run faster? 1. the smell makes you run to get away from your own butt, 2. the air going backwards pushes you forwards, and 3. you are lighter after a fart since you are no longer carrying the compressed gas around.

Thoughts? maybe something to contemplate on my next run in between my sweet air-drum riffs.

 

[Bare Lee]

The good news is that if you're aware that you're delusional, then you're not actually delusional. Remember: Crazy people don't think they're crazy; they think the rest of us NOT wearing aluminum foil hats are crazy...

You're obviously deluded about delusional behavior. It's not an all-or-nothing, steady state proposition. You can have moments of clarity amidst the storm of imaginary figments. You need to probe your own delusion more deeply. For example, you may realize from time to time that you have no ship, but then slip right back into your marauding behavior for the rest of the day.

If you were a chipmunk how many feet should you see in front of you? What is the focal distance of a chipmunk? (yes...yes, I know: African or European?)

I don't know but my intuitive Chipmunk sense says it should be less than a human's (don't ask me how I know I can see as far as a human). Also, I see a human shadow when I look down. Darnedest thing.

 

[ajb422]

I think about conversations that could come up and the best ways of talking them out, what people could say in response and how I should best respond. Normally these are in the context of possible arguments (well discussions but that line can be fine sometimes), work situations, interviews, general strange conversations that could come up (I live an odd life at times) and other such things. I think it helps me be more prepared in dealing with people, which is something that I think I can always work on.

 

[migangelo]

uh wait, you mean i don't have to think only about my heart rate, breathing, pace, cadence, stride, foot landing, posture, lean, arms, head, hips, roots, rocks, gravel, sun, rain, my dog, other dogs, runners, walker, and park rangers? dammit. why am i always the last to know anything?

 

[skedaddle]

uh wait, you mean i don't have to think only about my heart rate, breathing, pace, cadence, stride, foot landing, posture, lean, arms, head, hips, roots, rocks, gravel, sun, rain, my dog, other dogs, runners, walker, and park rangers? dammit. why am i always the last to know anything?

Yup, seems like you're only using the left side of your brain, there's a whole other side reserved for creative thought

 

[skedaddle]

HAHA!! Isnt that just the jet propulsion helping to move you along? Hmmm.... maybe thats a thought for long runs. Does farting during running make you run faster? 1. the smell makes you run to get away from your own butt, 2. the air going backwards pushes you forwards, and 3. you are lighter after a fart since you are no longer carrying the compressed gas around.

HaHa! For farts to make you go faster a funnel needs to be placed on your butt, to compress the gasses, and then just ignite them (discalamer, this is just theoretical and i make no claims that you will reach the 4 mm mile by following such practices! Or condone such actions in any way, even if you're very, very drunk.)

 

[dutchie53]

uh wait, you mean i don't have to think only about my heart rate, breathing, pace, cadence, stride, foot landing, posture, lean, arms, head, hips, roots, rocks, gravel, sun, rain, my dog, other dogs, runners, walker, and park rangers? dammit. why am i always the last to know anything?

Yup, I can see now how Mike has gotten a slower. There seems to be a lot of clutter going on in that mind? But on a side note, there was no mention of women and beer?

 

[theshortwhiteguy]

I once worked out in my head the amount of #2 diapers I had changed, within 100+ or -. It only took a mile out of a 22-miler to figure out the number.

 

[migangelo]

with women and beer no thinking is required. now understanding women, i think even the buddah would give up.

 

[jldeleon]

I contemplate sex.

 

[Bare Lee]

I contemplate sex.

Shocking revelation Jen!

 

[Zetti]

“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
― Thomas A. Edison

 

[jldeleon]

“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
― Thomas A. Edison

Thomas Edison has some of my favorite quotes of all time.

 

[jldeleon]

Shocking revelation Jen!

It's actually running's fault. The longer I've been running and the more often and farther I run, the more I contemplate it.