Change of scenery

Add comment August 18th, 2008

 My wife and I just joined several of our friends for a long weekend in northern Wisconsin and while we there four of us went out for a morning run.

That’s nothing unusual for us, my wife and I have been running for years. What was unusual was how we felt.

Despite running on a road that was never flat for more than two steps in a row, I realized about halfway in that we were moving pretty well without really feeling the effort. The answer was simple, we were enjoying the new scenery — several deer crossing our paths included — too much to pay attention to how hard we were running.

You don’t have to travel five hours north to experience the same thing, though.

If your running times have hit a plateau and just won’t budge, try a different route or several different routes and turn off your stopwatch. Run just for the heck of it.

Even if your times don’t improve when you get back to training, you’re apt to take renewed pleasure in the workout.