Running NAKED

SPOILER ALERT - THERE ARE NO NUDE PICTURES IN THIS POST!

Yesterday I had an easy pace 4-miler on the schedule. I have a standard route from our house that I do for my 4 mile loop. After I got off work I took the pup out for a walk, changed, and headed out the door for my run. My Garmin seemed to be taking an extra long time to locate satellites (and I can only look at my wrist for so long before I become impatient) so I decided to.... RUN WITHOUT IT!

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SHOCKING, I KNOW! I think I even heard a gasp or two from some of you!

I am a numbers girl, I feel like I need to know my pace, the exact distance, etc. For some reason I guess I feel like a 4.00 mile run is so much better or more beneficial than a 3.98 mile run. Don't ask me why, because I honestly don't know (and it's not like I am an elite runner or anything so the numbers really aren't that important), but sometimes it seems like a bit of an obsession.

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I decided to run NAKED! And boy was it freeing (ha, just kidding, but I thought it fit with the naked analogy ;)).

As you can see, I was FULLY clothed! Just sans my watch!

Sometimes you don't even realize how attached you are to something until it isn't there. A co-worker had texted me and I knew I needed to respond to it, so I stopped for a brief second and actually went to hit the "stop" button on my watch only to remember it wasn't on my wrist!

Anyway, back to my run. I normally run from my house, up a hill, down the street to a nearby gas station, then back down to a local park, run around the park a couple times and then back home. When I was coming up to the park I saw it was roped off with a bunch of caution tape. When I got closer I saw there were probably 8 cop cars in the park. Obviously I would NOT be running around the park today. I ended up having to run by the park and figured I would throw a little hill workout in. I ran to a nearby hill and did a couple trips up and down it before heading back towards my house. (I had my phone with me, so I was just going off of estimated time since this wasn't MY route.)

I would definitely say I was thrown off. First, when something doesn't go exactly to plan I tend to get my panties (I do NOT like that word) pants in a bunch. So it shook me a bit when I decided to run without a watch (which only happens like twice a year) but figured it would be okay because I "knew" my normal route, only to have the route disrupted. (I am a Type A personality, so any change in the program is an issue for me...) Then, come to find out, the reason the park was closed was because a man was beaten to death there! Um, talk about rattling your cage a bit!




Obviously when things like this happen, you are reminded about the BIG PICTURE, what is really important! Whether I was running with or without a watch, whether I ended up running 3.76 miles or 4.12 miles, that's all trivial. What ultimately matters is that I live my life as a reflection of God to those around me and leave this place better than I found it.

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So I guess you can say my 4 mile run went a LOT differently than I was originally expecting.

Do you enjoy running naked? Or does it stress you out?