Technology can also disconnect us from something else that makes a fun run “fun”: other people and the atmosphere of the carnival.
Two years ago, while running past the starting line at the city2surf, Todd Liubinskas’ training partner and co-founder of the 440 Run club, Trent Knox, told him to hand over his watch.
Todd Liubinskas (left) and Trent Knox.Credit:edwin pickles
“I had my Garmin on and he said ‘give it to me’ and he said ‘just focus on your breathing,’” recalls Liubinskas, who did her first City2Surf when she was seven years old.
Knox says he could see that his friend, who shot too fast, was already itching to get his splits.
“I wanted him to put it out of his head,” says Knox, who, along with Liubinskas, leads the Under Armor race team in the race. Without the distraction of his watch and chronically checking his pace, he relaxed: “You can run a race a hundred different ways and get the same time.”
Liubinskas, whose goal was to run the 14 kilometers in less than 70 minutes, did it in 64 minutes and also managed to enjoy herself.
“There will be people who will keep looking at their watch all the time, ‘Oh, I have to get this, and I have to get that,’ and you miss it all,” says Liubinskas, who hasn’t worn a watch to track her runs since then.
With numbers for this year’s City2Surf lower than previous years, Knox has been asking people why they aren’t signing up. He’s been told, she says, that they’d rather not run because life and COVID have gotten in the way of training and they won’t get a PB.
It’s a shame, says Knox. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not at your best; it’s about being together.”
Being together and, after the many variations of COVID, as well as a nasty flu season, a celebration of being well.
A colleague of mine was hoping to train for the event, but illness made a mockery of her plans. She has decided to run, or walk, anyway, and reset her expectations.
Charging
“I used to get frustrated if I couldn’t run uphill, if I had to resort to walking,” she says. “But now I’m so grateful that I’m well enough to participate (as a result of having COVID) that I’m happy to jog a little and walk whatever.”
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