AAhhhhhhh experts!

I have been running for more than 5 years now and by no means am I an expert at running. I make mistakes, go out too fast, train too hard, hydrate badly and so on. I also know that when something hurts, give it 24 hours before you push the panic button. I like running. It's a simple way to keep in shape, escape your everyday life, make friends who like to talk running shoes and gear and running let's me eat dessert once in a while. I also learned that you can't run away from problems or issues but that you can resolve many of them on a run.

When my son was diagnosed "autistic", I started to run both to find some time to myself and to cry without upsetting my husband. I stopped crying kept on running and my son now talks and sings and does a whole lot of things the "experts" told me he could never do. This brings me to talk about my "experts" of running (mind you no one of them runs, but that's not keeping them from being experts!)

My first and best expert is the doorman in our building, mind you there are three but they share similarities that would blow your mind. We've been living in this building for over 4 years now and I have been out the door for my daily run for just as long. If I run out the door after the doorman started his day (or returning from a run just as he started his day) he always and I mean ALWAYS has a piece of advice for me: It's too cold, you'll freeze your lungs! It's too hot, you'll get overheated and collapse in the middle of the road! It's raining you'll catch your death! All three of them has some opinion about how running is going to kill me.

My second expert is the administrator of the building. I see her only on weekends which is a blessing : " Running is bad for your knees. I know someone who ran and one day she just couldn't get out of bed and hasn't walked since. No one know what happened but her doctor told her that nothing like that would have happened if she hadn't run all these years!" I get the same story or a variety of this story almost every weekend. The only way to get past her is to keep my earphones on and to bop to the music. But then I get the :"Earphones are bad for your ears, you'll lose your hearing!"

Last but not least is the barista at Starbucks. Mind you she's in her 20's cute but overweight and has trouble with her knees (I wonder why). Last week as I finished my run at Starbucks for a Soy Latte she tells me that she's scheduled for knee replacement surgery. I tell her that she's very young for such an operation and maybe, just maybe she should get a second opinion. (I'm not a fan of mainstream medicine) She then proceeds to tell me that it's because she ran track and field when she was in High school and her orthopedist said that she ruined her knees running. And of course now she believes it's her duty to talk every runner she meets out of running.

I've had a few things here and there over the years but nothing that kept me from running for more than 6 weeks. I'll talk about that in another post. I don't think I'll ever get these people to quiet down and I've learned to smile and nod as I chase another PR.

Just to let you know, I'm in my 40's, no spring chicken anymore. I thought growing older, people would stop giving me unsolicited advice.

Next post : My neighborhood, where I run and what I see.