I decided to set goals for myself this year, and they include disciplining myself and having fun at it. I usually don’t need gimmicks when running, but training plans do help. I decided to retrain on the 10K program and, when it fits, doing the Zombies, Run app on top of that. Today was my first Zombies run, and it was pretty fun. There’s a Brit guy who sounds like Simon Pegg telling you what’s going on in a zombie-infested area. I did the first mission, Jolly Alpha Five Niner, today. It means running and listening to the zombie radio, which switches to your own playlist between instructions. The area is all virtual, but if you use your imagination, it’s quite real as you get chased by zombies while making your way to a hospital to gather some supplies and then running to a gate that is guarded by allies who will get you to safety. I thought it was quite fun, but when the Brit guy’s ex-lover Alice, who had turned into a zombie, began chasing me, I really did run faster. I mean, wouldn’t you if you heard zombies grunting at your back?
When I thought about making this post and somehow connecting it to the theme of running outdoors in the Anthropocene, I thought, well, it makes perfect sense: I live in a culture that loves zombie fiction, and who knows…someday I may have to actually run from something for real. Although we all know not to run from black bears. Right?
My other goals this year are as follows:
- Help my intervals by finishing the 10K training before summer, where it’s not 100 degrees out. Also, running from zombies!
- My diet is now 100% vegetarian. I made the choice to do this starting January 1, and I have not had a problem at all, even when we took a friend out for her birthday at a BBQ place. I love veggies, and though not a big fan of soy, I do like soy milk (though am not going vegan–yet).
- I’m on a gradual weight loss program that just kinda happens naturally when you run. I have lost 30 pounds since last year and 5 more just in the past month. I used to be so skinny–but it is not my goal to look under-nouished again (I once, as a young adult, weight 98 pounds at 5’7″). I do have a goal of what I want to weigh, and am slowly getting there. Running gets easier on your body when the pounds come off.
- I have been doing some yoga a couple days a week and finally just ordered my first yoga mat. I did yoga hatha all last year, with an instructor who is a dear, sweet person–but with my back and arms having problems I could no longer go at the pace of the class so need to do my own pace.
- My husband just built a weight centre–I think tonight is the night he will finish it. It’ll be nice on those “gym days” to just come home and lift instead. Going to the gym every day is a lot of lugging clothes back and forth. I also like the comfort of home for things like yoga and weights.
- I’ve posted some hiking and camping dreams, and indeed last summer we began exploring more around here. Our hikes typically are about 10K, with quite a bit of elevation (since where we live is hilly/mountainous). It is a good workout and a beautiful thing to do. I realize that I live in what I think is the most beautiful place in the world. Granted, I have not been everywhere but have been all over Canada, the US, and to parts of Mexico. Might as well get out there and live it to the fullest.
- If I accomplish these things I would like to then begin training for a half in the fall. I have had some setbacks from doing so yet, because of my back and some ongoing problems that neither stretches nor PT has helped much with. But this is a sort of out-there, maybe kind of goal. I’m happy to not move up the ultra-running ladder, because there is so much else I want to do that also takes time.
We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn’t going to solve anything.(mwahahaha!)
-Night of the Living Dead