Saginaw, MI

Saginaw Soccer Complex

Running Time: 54:53.5 + 2-minute kick

I had planned on running at the track at Valley Lutheran High School, but the little Lutherans were out practicing their track skills in the cold, windy, rainy weather. There was a paved path through part of the soccer complex, but I stuck to the grass as much as possible, until I hit some marshy spots. I ran the perimeter mostly, and there were only occasional piles of dog crap to avoid.

Saginaw is pretty dreary, and even more so in dreary weather. I did some cold-calling, which I do not often do, and everyone I talked to was pleasant and not dismissive at all, which makes it a little fun. I drove up from Detroit and through Flint – 9 stops in all, which is more than I usually can fit in. I felt tired an unenergetic for the run.

I accumulate ideas when I am on the road. I listen to albums for tracks I want to run to, and I add the songs to my running playlist. On the plane I listed to the “Sleep” playlist, and I added almost all of the artists to my list of artists to check out. Then I listen to a rotation of the artists that are on the list, and if I add one of their tracks, I move on to the next artist. I am in the process of going through the artists with tracks on my running playlist, listening to their entire catalog for additional songs to add. So I only need to add one track from a new artist, and then eventually I will listen to their entire catalog and add every song I like.

I also have 40 podcasts I subscribe to. I go through and listen to the oldest one of each in a rotation. The only ones that I listen to outside of the rotation are Fresh Air, Public Health on Call, and Best of Car Talk. Fresh Air and Best of Car Talk cycle out their old episodes on the feed, so you have to stay caught up, or you lose one. Public Health on Call I like to stay current on, because it deals with a lot of timely subjects. So each day I start with one Fresh Air, one Public Health on Call, and one Best of Car Talk, and then I pick up the rotation where I left off the day before. I also rotate podcasts and albums – one podcast, then one album, and so on.

Most of these strategies I have implemented to take decision-making out of the daily routine, so that I have the appropriate level of mental energy and willpower to make the important decisions that come up throughout the day.