Thursday, October 19, 2006

Is running like playing the piano?

I’ve been running for about 2 years now.  Of course everyone knows I’ve been playing the piano for a lot longer.  What’s funny is for the 2+ years I’ve been running, I’ve seen little improvement until this past July. 

I have found that suddenly, the 2 years of hard work have kicked in and my pace per mile has come down by over 3 minutes, but all my “personal records” have occurred within the last 4 months.  Similarly, the first few years of playing piano is equally grueling: at the end of a few years of formal training, most people fail to realize that the groundwork they’ve laid will reveal itself in the years ahead, and not being able to make that connection, most will quit.  Playing piano is a total leap of faith, and now I realize that running is as well.  You don’t do either because of the rewards, you do it because of the possibility of a reward, or maybe it’s just that I am, like most other musicans and runners, a glutton for punishment.

In either case, I’m at the point now where I can run to your house, play a few tunes, and then run home.  You supply the piano.

My recent running history can be found on the Motion Based website.