Rituals

We all have little rituals that are unique to us in our life. Little patterns in which we do things again and again. One of my better rituals is my run ritual. I always run on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I usually get out on a Saturday or Sunday too. I pretty much always do the same set of actions beforehand as well.

I shut off from work for the day around 5 pm. Maybe a little bit earlier if I am able during the Winter so I can get out and back again before sundown. I push later in the evening in the summer so I don’t die due to sweating every ounce of liquid in the hot Texas heat.

I have slammed some caffeine between 4 and 5pm. Its definitely detriment to my sleep that evening, but the tradeoff is worth it in my opinion. My body is AMPED and I am ready to go.

I change into temperature appropriate wear, sweat shorts in the winter, short shorts in the summer, usually accompanied by some old 5k shirt from a Color Run or something, a national park tee or my Legend of Zelda ‘Make it Rain’ tee shirt. It never rains when I wear it and I am not sure if that is good or bad luck.

I bush my teeth before heading out – this is very important – there is nothing worse than cardio with coffee breath or the taste of hour old Red Bull. There is nothing better than winterfresh breath on a hot day. I know it doesn’t really cool the air down, but I pretend anyways.

I put in my wireless earbuds. I hate taking my phone with me on runs, so I got a made-in-China MP3 player to connect it to. (Well actually its a FLAC player because I am a bitrate snob – also, nobody really makes bluetooth MP3 players outside of China. Who would’ve thought it would become so archaic so fast?)

I usually have Drum and Bass on deck for a run. The tempo matches my run cadence perfectly. I keep several dozen mixes on the MP3 player to cycle through. BCC Radio One’s Essential Mixes make up at least half of them. I’d recommend London Elektricity as a classic 2000s DnB Essential Mix. For a lighter longer run, maybe something slower yet fun: Mat Zo or Todd Terje. Or a Podcast. You can get a lot of podcast time in when running.

I then start timing on my Garmin Fenix and hit the neighborhood, usually with a good idea of what I want to do. I like to go out for about an hour, about 6-7mi. Some days I am really feeling it and do more. Some days I don’t and head back early.

When I am back, sometimes I meditate. I can get really in the zone. I should do it more. Today I got back and wrote this blog post. On today’s run I thought about how simple this ritual is and how consistent I am with it and just wanted to remark on it.