Photo by Philip Ackermann on Pexels
For my new health regimen, I try to stick to a schedule of running every other day. Every day, I try to get at least thirty minutes of cardio exercise into my day, and every other day, that exercise is running, something that I used to dread.
I’m currently using the 5K Runner paid app from the Apple App store. It has a one-time fee, and for me, that payment has been totally worth it. (I really hate exercise apps with a subscription fee. So far, there have been no upselling push alerts, for which I’m super grateful.)
The program follows the couch to 5k formula of starting off very, very slowly. For example, the first race had me active for a total of 25 minutes. The first five and last five of those minutes are warm up walks. The middle fifteen minutes consists of one-minute runs alternating with 1.5-minute walks.
Over time, you slowly build up the length of the run sections. I’m now on an optional week 7, day 2 run, where I am warming up for five minutes at the beginning and the end of the run, and I am running a full twenty minutes in the middle without any stops.
While on very hot days, I miss those shorter run intervals, what I truly love about these much longer running intervals is that after the pain of the first ten minutes of jogging, I hit that elusive runner’s high.
When that euphoric feeling hits, my stride lengthens, and my legs no longer feel like burning cement. I feel almost like I’m floating and like I can run forever. It’s at those moments when my brain isn’t constantly monitoring my aches and pains or focusing on the burning of my lungs that I start to think about story ideas.
These ideas materialize, swirl around and gather strength, and then flood my brain with short story concepts, fixes for plot holes, ideas for character developments, and the list goes on.
I used to rely on trying to remember these ideas when I came home, but I always forget how tired I am at the end of the run and how I only want to drink water and sit in front of a fan forever.
Now, I use my voice memo app to record my thoughts when they appear mid-run.
I had no idea that the best thing for refilling my well of creativity was to simply put on some running shoes and then head out into the great outdoors for a run. Simple, and good for my physical health as a bonus.
Now, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s run, and I’ll be ready to capture any story ideas that I give birth to on my run.
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