I have never been a runner. I liked to play some volleyball and basketball when I was in High School, go on bicycle rides, play ponchado, which I am not sure of the name in English, but is the game where there are 2 groups on each side of the court, and you avoid getting hit by the ball because you get eliminated if it hits you. I am sure there is a name for it in English but it scapes my mind.
As an adult, I have been practicing yoga, and have taken several classes at the gym, including kick boxing, spinning, cardio classes with my favorite being zumba and afro-brazilian, but other than that pretty low key. One day, many years ago I willingly got pulled into running a 10k without any training, mostly because I like the guy who mentioned the race and asked if I wanted to go, but I also thought it would be fun to try it out. I got my sister into going with me, and I had zero mentality of winning or being the fastest. In fact, we were more like tourists, taking in the views along the course. The 10K race was at Lands End in San Francisco, one of the most beautiful places in the city, where you get amazing views of the pacific ocean coming into the San Francisco Bay, and of course you get to see the impressive wide world famous Golden Gate Bridge in all its glory, most of the time, if there is no fog, or at least you see its bottom. That day it was a nice bright clear sky and we were enjoying the road, stopping to take selfies, or pictures of the view in the many curves that go along the coast. There were lots of opportunities to take awesome shots for sure.
I have to say, my thought process worked like this to set my mind into doing the thing: Ok, since I got into this race with zero preparation, I know I can walk, I had done hikes of about 9 miles in the past, so if anything I knew at least I could walk the 6 miles distance, even if I was the last one crossing the finish line. With that little piece of naive but somewhat reassuring thought we signed up. My sister is way more athletic than me, she was playing waterpolo since high school, and would go on runs here and there when she could, so I knew she would be fine. Except, on the way back she got ahead of me, I couldn’t see her in the horizon, and when I finally crossed the finish line, my guy friend, who had probably crossed who know how many hours before me, asked me, where is your sister?.
What? Is she not here? she was ahead of me, for sure she should be here somewhere. He said he ad not seen her. Finally after a little while I got a phone call and t was my sister, she asked me, hey, where is the finish line? I am in the neighborhood with houses… She got confused and had taken a wrong turn by the Legion of Honor museum, follow the road down the golf course and ended up in the Richmond neighborhood… Ayyy! My friend could not believe we were not serious about our time, and that we were stopping several times to take pictures here and there. Ooops, I did not know the etiquette and was oblivious to seriousness of the people racing. My bad, I apologize.
With all of this for an intro, I think you get the idea, I am not really anywhere near being a runner, or an athlete in any category. I enjoy low key physical activities, mostly dancing, because they bring me joy, but I guess my competitive side is quite chill! (Although I have seen glimpses of a little fire in there in some situations).
Anyhow, I was recently listening to a podcast with guest Rick Rubin, I didn’t know who he was but he had released a book called the creative process, and I wanted to know more about this person. I listened to the podcast, the guy is a record producer, with lots of experience in music and creative projects, has a podcast, is a writer and has had quite an interesting life. His main message is that in art and the creative space you need to do what you love and what tickles your fancy, and not really what all the marketing people recommend which is cater to the consumers. His approach is more of follow your bliss, and all of the other stuff will follow, and if it doesn’t, that is ok, because you are being genuine with your own creative desires. I like this idea very much!
In the podcast, he mentioned a book he had read. The book is called Born to Run, here we go with the running again. He said he was not a runner but the book was fascinating to him. I felt pretty curious and looked it up. I am mostly using audiobooks now, they work for me even though at first I felt kind of like cheating, but then a friend mentioned they are like reading because as you listen you have to imagine the scene, or situation, and so we are using the same part of the brain as when we read. This makes me feel so much better.
I have started the book and I am now almost half way, the book is indeed fascinating. The writer, who is a journalist but also a runner himself is obsessed with running. He embarks in this research of the most fierce runners out there, and he finds there is a tribe in Mexico called the Tarahumara people. The Tarahumara live in the Copper Canyon area, in the southwest part of Chihuahua, under the most basic conditions, with a very basic diet, eating beans and corn mostly, and with footwear that is more like a huarache sandal. Nothing fancy or high tech. These people are pretty much the most humble super humans to roam the earth, and I had no idea they are well known for their long distance abilities.
I didn’t know there were even ultra runners until maybe 10 years ago, and I only found out because I know a friend here in the city, who used to go to the parties or social events, etc back in the day, and then gradually started to disappear from the social scene. He had gotten the bug of ultra running, and the social parties and the ultra running DO not work well together. Imagine how much you have to endure when you run 50 or 100 miles, continuously, day and night. And I guess some people even go for 200 miles. I mean, who are these humans? what are they made of? What is their brain like? I am so curious and have so many questions.
Back in October, I spotted a running group here in my little neighborhood in Noe Valley. This group advertised through social media they organize runs every Friday at 6:30 am for a 4 mile run, or 7:30 am for a 2.5 mile run. Since October, I kept thinking I wanted to try the short run. Since my infamous 10k years ago I have not done any sort of thing like this… but it looked fun, and I guess I am feeling the isolation aspect of a remote worker. We are social creatures indeed.
For the past 4 months, I could not get it together to go on this little run, sometimes it was raining dogs and cats, and the temperatures were to low for me to get into the outside world, which I know some people would find laughable, but to each its own. SF is not that cold I guess in the wide spectrum of temperature, but it is cold enough for me.
Anyway, yesterday I finally muster my energy and went out to join the unacquainted neighbors and try out the little run. I had woken up super early, feeling good in energy and the temperature was not too low, finally! I had to push aside the uneasy thoughts, trying to not care about the awkwardness to introduce myself to new people. I am totally out of practice for new social interactions, so I guess that was a good thing to test as well.
My expectation was to find maybe 10 people or so. I was surprised to see 30 to 35 people showed up. There were 2 clear captains of the group, for what I could see, and one of them instructed everyone to form a circle and to go around saying our names out loud. Then he asked if there was anyone new, I raised my hand,and I think a few other people did as well, but I could tell a lot of them were regulars. When I first showed up I talked to a young man who was approaching the corner of the cafe where the group meets, I asked him if he was part of the group, and mentioned that I was new and was going to try it out. He was nice and said he was part of the group, and that this was his second week. And gave me some words of encouragement.
After all the intros the group started running. We went down on Sanches, for like 2 blocks, to encounter the first up hill segment, we turned on Elizabeth to a semi flat segment and took on Church street up to 22nd street, to go to a most welcome down hill segment, then it was mostly flat on guerrero up to 29th street, and back up a little hill to Sanchez to go back to the cafe. Pretty early on the run I was on the back, but thankfully with a group still nearby. There was a faster group that was ahead but one of the captains stayed with us in the back. By the last stretch I was out of gas, mostly our of air, but I could walk-run sort of. I finally made it to the cafe, last one, but not too far behind the last group to get back. No one seemed to care what time you got, which was great! Some nice lady high five me, and kept saying nice reassuring comments. They were kind and I appreciate that.
There were parts of the run I sort of hated the activity, and I thought, why do I do this to myself, but there were other parts that were ok, I am fine here, moving at my little pace. I can see why this is a very mental activity, you have to deal with the beast, the struggle and deal with it, so you can keep going, step after step. Although I did feel like I wanted to call an Uber, I have to admit. By the time I got home I felt great, I started to make breakfast, I wasn’t starving, but I had a huge appetite and I was thrilled to eat my signature breakfast, pronto. Those who know me know my menu. Arepa, with a spread of avocado, cheese, and egg on top, with hot chocolate. Umm chef kiss!
The high of the run, and the blood pumping lasted for a while, I felt great, productive, and in a great mindset! I see why people get addicted to running, and I admire their grit and determination.
As a bonus point, I found out from the little conversation after the run, that the St Paul Church, on Church street, was the filming location of Sister Act! I had no idea, even though I been here for so many years. See, I love this kind of interactions, you never know what new thing you will learn!
I leave you with a picture of the church I took yesterday, not during the little run, I learned my lesson from the 10k to not take pics during runs if possible! The cherry flowers are blossoming, so extra cherry on top, pun intended. I will return to my audiobook, I am fascinated by this gods from the Olympus that descended upon the earth in human flesh. Truly mind blowing.
St. Paul’s Church. Filming location for Sister Act!
Brownie! 