I haven’t posted here in a while, but I’m still doing this. After the Toronto Waterfront 10K, I got back up to speed properly this time: I did two easy 5K runs before reverting back to my standard one-hour run, which I have done twice.
When preparing for my last run yesterday, I realized that there is a ritual involved, as there’s a lot of steps:
- Body glide for sensitive areas in the upper thigh
- Selecting a T-shirt (I now have a bunch of old race shirts to choose from!)
- Putting on the shorts (this is more complicated than you might think, as they’re always inside out, and it takes a while to sort that out)
- Finding where I put the cap that I wear when running
- Washing out and filling the water bottles
- Carrying a spare gel in case I gork out and need food during the run (this usually doesn’t happen on my one-hour run, but it never hurts to be prepared)
- Ensuring that my watch is charged
- Ensuring that my running headphones are charged and are connected to my phone through Bluetooth
- Picking a running playlist
- Packing a 20 dollar bill, my health card, and my transit card, in case I get injured on the way (these need to be packed with my phone in a plastic sandwich bag to protect against rain)
- Ensuring that my socks are pulled up so that they don’t bunch inside my shoes
- Putting on my shoes and ensuring that they are tight enough without being too tight (this is usually a multi-step process)
- Finally, going out there, already
I can’t imagine the level of preparation that would be needed for doing more serious distances than 8 to 10K!