Today's run was one of the best I think I've ever had. I ran for an hour at the high school track and l loved every minute of it.
It was a hard effort but well within a healthy heart rate zone.
I am very proud of this chart because, honestly, as a Type AAA personality I suffer from "hurry sickness" and have a demonstrable antipathy toward anything less than full out. But running is supposed to be stress management, not stress inducement, if you know what I mean. I run because my life -- or at least many aspects of it -- depend on it. The length of my life -- probably. The quality of my life -- most certainly.
Running may produce fitness of muscle but it produces another kind of fitness as well. There is no question whatsoever that my brain also requires exercise. For example, my next blog post -- "Why I Don't Answer Your Questions"-- came to me during today's run. It was no different in the fifth century B.C. when educated Greeks (including philosophers) spent time working out in the gymnasium.
The Greeks believed that the simplest way to keep your mind healthy was to exercise. All runners embraced that philosophy. Hence the Greeks saw sports as essential to their educational system.
In sports, the body, mind, and soul are all integrated. I am not yet "educated" in that sense, but I'm trying -- and that's what makes the difference.