Smart Phone

Six weeks ago, my friend Christina and I started fol­low­ing a fit­ness pro­gram. After not run­ning since my soc­cer days (and only then either chas­ing or being chased), we started train­ing for the 5k Col­or­Run. We’re fol­low­ing the very sen­si­ble Couch to 5K run­ning pro­gram and duti­fully fol­low­ing the ver­bal instruc­tions given us by Get Run­ning - an appli­ca­tion on our phones. As we work our way through the train­ing inter­vals, a very pleas­ant British female voice tells us when to start and stop run­ning, and peri­od­i­cally gives us words of encour­age­ment. Her accent adds a sense of sophis­ti­ca­tion as we sweat our way around the park.

We often talk back to our British foe friend, and I would be less than truth­ful if I said that every­thing said to her was nice. In fact, for weeks we have made fun of her when she has offered one par­tic­u­lar sug­ges­tion, sar­cas­ti­cally thank­ing her for her “sage” advice. When we embark on our longest run­ning inter­val she offers in her most pleas­ant and help­ful way, “Remem­ber to mod­er­ate your pace, and if you find your­self flag­ging, slow back a lit­tle to a pace you can main­tain.”  This is fol­lowed a bit later by, “Don’t for­get you can slow your pace a lit­tle, should you need to.” For weeks Christina and I have laughed about this, imag­in­ing a per­son run­ning full speed about to fall out, but not know­ing how to solve their prob­lem. We pic­ture the per­son with their hair blown back, cheeks flap­ping as if in a wind tun­nel, painfully sprint­ing past with­out the com­mon sense to slow down.

But, last night as I was mak­ing my way around the park, it occurred to me that what seems such obvi­ous com­mon sense in run­ning is not applied to other areas of our life.

Indeed, what if in those times when our lives are run­ning at a blis­ter­ing tempo, a voice could remind us occasionally:

“Remem­ber to mod­er­ate your pace, and if you find your­self flag­ging, slow back a lit­tle to a pace you can maintain.”

or

“Don’t for­get you can slow your pace a lit­tle, should you need to.”

I hope my art­work can be that pleas­ant reminder — minus the british accent.

Mile Marker 261, 16x22