The Waiting Room

Runners use many things to keep track of their distance. There are tons of devices and apps to help one monitor how far they go. I use a pedometer app on my phone and wear one of those armbands that hold my phone. But, it's kinda hard to look at my progress while running and holding on to Junior's leash (plus, a poop bag, if needed).

I count streetlights.

I live in a subdivision that has one large loop and two smaller streets that intersect the large loop. The large loop is about a mile and the two intersecting streets break up the loop at a quarter and half miles, respectively. As I progress with my distance, I am not always able to make the quarter or half mile mark, so the streetlights are a great visual for me to see how far I have gone and where I need to go.

I've been stuck at the 1.5 mile mark for a while. Usually, I can add one or two streetlights every two weeks or so, if I stick to my four to five day a week run/walk schedule. This consists of running one day, walking the next, and then rest on the third day. Or, I add another run or walk day followed by a rest day if I feel up to it. But, I have not been able to add a streetlight past the 1.5 mile mark for about a month.

That is, until today.

I didn't think we would make it out for a run. It looked like it was going to rain, so I was sure that we would get caught up in it. Junior was pretty persistent about going, so I decided to give it a go. Once we finished our warm up walk and reached our start point, we started cruising. I noticed that as we got close to the 1.5 mile mark, I felt like I had enough gas in the tank to reach another streetlight. Once, I past that streetlight, I had enough gas to push past the second streetlight. I decided to stop at that point. so that I would not overdue it and send myself into an RA flare. Also, I wanted to make sure that Junior was not too overheated or overextended. I added two streetlights. That was enough. I checked my pedometer, and sure enough, we added 1/10 of a mile.

My goal is to complete a 5K by the end of the year. With Junior's help, we are on our way.

One streetlight at a time.