5 New Runs to Make Joggling More Fun

It’s midway through training for the London Marathon and it’s starting to wear on me. Maybe it’s the looming daily run of the joggling streak, the constant leg and body pain, the hours of feet pounding, or this crappy Chicago winter weather, but my motivation is vanishing faster than a white tiger in a Siegfried and Roy show.

Yesterday, as I slowly donned my winter running garb my wife empathetically says, “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” I know this and I appreciate her sympathy. But something in me keeps me going. Or as I like to say

Whether I do it or not is not up to me but rather, it is up to the conditions set forth some 14 billion years ago just before the Big Bang. Everything after that was inevitable.

Of course, the fact that all things are inevitable and free will is merely a useful illusion shouldn’t really impact the way you live your life. Since you can’t possibly know what will happen, you’re best strategy is to live life as if your choices did matter. And choosing to keep running or joggling when your homunculus is telling you not to can boost your confidence and make you feel great about yourself. To help, try these different runs suggested in this month’s Runner’s World.

Prediction Run

Write down on a piece of paper a prediction of how long it will take you to finish a typical running route. Leave your prediction and watch at home and go run the route. The objective is to see how close you can come to your predicted time.

Pick up the pace

Do an out and back route. When you get to the half-way point check out your time. Then set a goal to best that time on the way back. If you are a new joggler, you can count your drops and make it a goal to have less drops on the way back.

Leap Frog

This running game requires a group of 2 or more runners. Run in a line and every so often the person in the back has to speed up and take over the front position. This continues for a set amount of time or the entire run. The thought of a line of jogglers doing this exercise is amusing.

I Spy

Before you start your run decide on a trigger object/thing such as a color, sign or number that will make you pick up the pace. Every time you see it, sprint for 50 – 100 yards, then resume your normal pace. Continue this the entire run. The urban joggling version of this would be to pick up the pace every time someone honks, comments, or otherwise acknowledges that you are joggling.

Take a tour

Who says you have to do the same runs every time out? The next time you have a long run go on a tour of your own city. It’s a great way to see all the landmarks and sites that make your own city great. I’ve done a joggling tour of Chicago on a number of occasions. It’s fun.