Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Crises, Questions and Dilemmas

I'm having an existential crisis.

Actually crisis is a bit of an exaggeration. It's more that I'm grappling with an existential question. Not a deep existential question like 'why do I exist?' or 'what is the meaning of life?' So I guess that grappling might also be an exaggeration. But I can't think of any better word at the moment so I guess we'll stick with it. Unless I have some bolt of inspiration before I'm done.

My question? If I run and it's not documented photographically, does it actually count?

It used to be that I ran and it counted just because I ran. Then I got my first Garmin and then the run counted because it was uploaded onto the computer. And then I joined the Garmin community and then it counted because other people could see it. Now it's got to be documented in pictures for it to count in my head.


How did things change? Why did they change? Will they change again? Will I cope - especially over the next few weeks when the chief photographers are off swanning in NY (marathon and glory-bound)? Should I even bother running if it's not on Instagram or FB? What IS the meaning of life?

See!! It's a real dilemma.

Funny thing is that I don't even like having my photo taken. Comes from being brought up with very attractive sisters. But I haven't minded it - even though they're taken when I've dragged myself out of bed before the sun's up and I'm usually red-faced, sweating and tousled. And the reason that I haven't minded them is because I look happy. Because I am happy. Running's my happy place. And running with friends is the best!



And talking about crises, we have a little one in the laundry. I only have to wash once a week now that the kid washing is no longer my responsibility and today Iven couldn't find a dry pair of undies!! I had washed and it all would have been fine if the weather had been. I'm not sure how he solved his dilemma and I don't think I want to. There are no good answers to that question. 

I looked around the laundry to see if any of his jocks had fallen behind the dryer (which I won't use unless there's a real weather crisis). No luck. But what I did see were all of the clean, damp running clothes I'd used this week that made up about a third of the wash. So I guess the answer to my existentialist question is that yes, photographically undocumented runs do count and I have the washing to prove it.

9 comments:

  1. Ah, yes, the washing as proof! And if seeing isn't believing you can use your nose!

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  2. I ran a 10km race yesterday, and well I crossed the finish line in a little over 20min with garmin ready 5.2km!!! (no the best organised race) Now we all know that garmins aren't 100% accurate, so can I take this as a PB and can I log this as 10km??

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  3. It's great when you don't have to do all the washing for the whole family isn't it! Liberating! I count doing housework as exercise so it's no good asking me :)

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    1. And I don't do housework so I guess we're even.

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  4. All the dirty secrets come out in the laundry! You mean Iven doesn't have 869 pairs of underwear? The Caveman has a seemingly bottomless stash.

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  5. What is it about nobody having clean undies, it is an issue in my house everyday!!
    How funny that video popped up in my newsfeed and here you are talking about something similar!! I have no idea why a running video would even pop up in my newsfeed!!

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  6. It's like those FB jokes about the gym - if it's not on FB it didn't happen etc... And then there's the jokes which share pics of people out exercising when they really aren't but have just splashed themselves with water and taken a selfie in exercise gear in a field somewhere! (Oh... there's an idea for a non-exerciser like myself!)

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  7. I completely get it, but then I'm coming at it from a different angle. I'm a memory keeper and a digital scrapbooker and I document our lives here. So I can leave a very tangible record, not just pictures, but words and actions, for our kids and their kids and their kids and so on. So yep, I'm the one out there taking lots of pics of my runs, what I'm seeing, pics of Mike and I running, and I almost always buy race photographs. Who knows what tomorrow may bring, I may get an injury and never run again. I want to always remember this time in our lives. I'm mindful though that apart from running friends and a few very interested friends and relatives, that they don't want to be bombarded with my running pics. So it's left for my blog or my scrapbook pages, or the private running FB groups I'm in. So yep, you keep taking those pics!!!!!! And I do live by the adage, if it's not on Garmin it didn't happen. Waaaah!

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