Tuesday has fast become my favorite day of the week. It’s a day off work, excellent start, but it’s also the day myself and my friend, Mike, drive down to Piedmont Park, Atlanta’s equivalent of Central Park and do a tough ass training session. And yes, I did mention that I am a “retired” athlete, so if that’s the case, why am I talking about training sessions?? Well, I have in fact retired from competing, but I’m not finding it as easy to retire from training. Initially, once I had actually decided to step away from competitive track (a horrendous, awful, emotional time in my life), I was able to hang up the runners, spikes and lycra and tell myself I was done, that I will never put that stuff on again, nor will I set foot on a track. Well, that might have lasted about 2 –3 months. When I started to lose the firmed and toned physique I had taken for granted for all those years of my career, then, I felt some sorted of action was necessary. That, and the fact that my “skinny” jeans were struggling to get past my thighs.
So out came the runners and lycra again, and living next to a National Park, I decided to start running some of the trails. Around this time too, Mike was flirting with the idea of getting himself back in shape, so we became training partners. Fast forward to today and we have competed in three 10k road races together and have plans to do some more, maybe even a marathon. So I guess you can say, Yes, I’m handling this retirement thing very well!
Anyway, on Tuesdays to mix things up a bit we head into the city and do a workout on a special half mile dirt running track they have laid out for all the active city folks. We do some repeat mile and half’s, followed by some 1 mile repeats, followed by some half mile repeats. Basically we work the crap out of ourselves, and we love it. We are not happy unless we are panned out on the ground with legs that give way once we try to stand. Adrenaline is so addictive. Parents, talk to your kids.
But as a big treat/reward for all our self abuse, we head to a little breakfast place called “The Flying Biscuit” and stuff ourselves full of eggs, pancakes and grits (creamy, sloppy, baby food type substance that I absolutely love. For all you Irish out there, it’s similar to porridge, but not exactly). We spend the whole brunch telling ourselves how much we deserve it and what an excellent, masochistic session we just endured. Once our buzz has settled and the reality of how f*#ked we are settles in, then we just wonder how we will get through the rest of the day? The answer is, in slow motion. We will be operating in slow-mo for the remainder of the day, cos all our energy was left in Piedmont Park.
So out came the runners and lycra again, and living next to a National Park, I decided to start running some of the trails. Around this time too, Mike was flirting with the idea of getting himself back in shape, so we became training partners. Fast forward to today and we have competed in three 10k road races together and have plans to do some more, maybe even a marathon. So I guess you can say, Yes, I’m handling this retirement thing very well!
Anyway, on Tuesdays to mix things up a bit we head into the city and do a workout on a special half mile dirt running track they have laid out for all the active city folks. We do some repeat mile and half’s, followed by some 1 mile repeats, followed by some half mile repeats. Basically we work the crap out of ourselves, and we love it. We are not happy unless we are panned out on the ground with legs that give way once we try to stand. Adrenaline is so addictive. Parents, talk to your kids.
But as a big treat/reward for all our self abuse, we head to a little breakfast place called “The Flying Biscuit” and stuff ourselves full of eggs, pancakes and grits (creamy, sloppy, baby food type substance that I absolutely love. For all you Irish out there, it’s similar to porridge, but not exactly). We spend the whole brunch telling ourselves how much we deserve it and what an excellent, masochistic session we just endured. Once our buzz has settled and the reality of how f*#ked we are settles in, then we just wonder how we will get through the rest of the day? The answer is, in slow motion. We will be operating in slow-mo for the remainder of the day, cos all our energy was left in Piedmont Park.
But its our ritual and we love it.
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