𝐋𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞

I saw a man this afternoon. I was stuck in rush hour traffic and he was on the other side and going the opposite direction. He was running home in safety boots, jeans and a work top. He looked like he was coming back from work based on what he was wearing. I did some basic calculations. The nearest industrial area in the direction he was coming from is about 11km and the nearest residential area in the direction he was going was about 6km away. So if he works in the nearest industrial area and lives in the nearest settlement to where we were, he would be travelling about 17km to work and 17km back. We see them everyday, right? Men with sports bags walking or cycling to work. It is normal. Then I had a funny thought... Well, funny to me. If he opened a Strava account these 34km to and from work everyday would be remarkable. "Wow! Good job!" "You are doing great!" Anyways, originally when I wrote this I wanted it to be a tweet about how we pride ourselves for doing things that are just another day for a lot of people. But I won't do that. I am not the Cynical Bon I was 7 paragraphs ago. (Wait, is Cynical Bon... Cinnabon? 🤔) So, I will move another direction and talk about another thing Benji did for me today. I have decided to name him Benji. He looks like his name could be Benjamin. Benji doesn't know what elevation he jogs to and from work. He doesn't know his pace. He doesn't care about his cadence. A personal record is getting to work on time everyday. His gait analysis is him observing that the boots are worn out more on one side than the other. Knowing he is probably 10 times more fit than me without caring about all these things made me realise that I have a data overload when running. I plan the route and plan the pace on every KM. I count carbs the night before to hit the right number. An alert goes off every 40mins of my run telling me to take an Energy Gel. My watch vibrates when I run too fast, when I run too slow, when my heart rate is too high, when my cadence is too low... and then on top of that every 1km a voice comes on in my headsets telling me how fast I ran the previous KM and how far behind (or ahead) I am with target. Why??? Benji opened my eyes. From tomorrow I am turning everything off. I will see my pace when I am done. I will feel my heart rate in my chest. I will take my energy gels when I feel I have no energy. I will run as slow or as fast as my body wants to. I am going back to enjoying running and not feeling like a lab rat. Some of you might disagree but Benji does atleast 34km everyday so I would rather do things the way he does. Thank you, Benji ❤️