In Which Jenn Preps For An Outdoor Run

Birbiglia future

Dear Future Jenn,

So you’re going running outside tomorrow morning. Good for you! I know you love your treadmill, but running outside is good for your body and good for race prep. And isn’t it nice when your run is out of the way early and you can do whatever you want after work? It is! It is nice! I want you to remember that when your alarm goes off before 6AM, because unless it’s raining you GET UP and you GO RUN. NO DO NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP IT IS VERBOTEN.

You only have a finite amount of running time before you have to go to work, so make sure you’ve streamlined the prep process for the morning – not a minute wasted! Is everything ready for you?

  • Put out all your clothes now so that you’re not digging around for them: shirt, pants, sports bra, socks, sneakers.

  • Same goes for your hair stuff: hair ties, bobby pins, headband.

  • Put your Vaseline and contacts out on the sink with your hair stuff.

  • Is your GPS watch charged? Plug it in!

  • Put your energy chews out next to your GPS watch so you’re less likely to forget both.

  • How about your phone? Is that charged? You’ll need it for music AND safety purposes.

  • Put your headphones out next to your phone, too. Remember that time you forget them and had to run without music? You didn’t like that very much, did you?

  • Make sure you’ve filled your water bottle and stuck it in the fridge – you’ll be much happier if your water’s cold.

  • As for your water bottle holder, put your apartment key in the zippered pocket now. I mean NOW. Do it NOW NOW NOW. And double-check a time or two in the morning. You don’t want to lock yourself out, do you?

  • This is also a good place to put your sweat-wiping cloth. Tie it to your shirtsleeve so you don’t have to carry it.

Good! You’re ready for your morning run. Now, go to sleep early so that you’re not miserable when your alarm goes off.

Okay, you’re right. You’re going to be miserable. But you’re also going to be a better runner. A better runner with an evening to do with what she likes. Won’t that be fun?

Love,
Current Jenn

Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Twitter @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.comSee ya real soon!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>