The Real Thing

Coca Cola had it right with their long lost commercial..."Ain't nothing like the real thing baby".  The substitute is often times close, but the real thing is noticeably better.  

I have been running 3-4 times per week lately on a treadmill.  Each week I put the speed up by .1 and have reached what I thought was a respectable 7.3 level on the treadmill for 20 minutes at an incline of 1 to ensure that I wasn't just running on a "flat road".  My cardio seems to be improving, and I definitely get a sweat on.  

Yesterday, I decided that the ice is gone from the trails so I was going to take the run outside.  I put on my shorts, my barefoot shoes, plugged my AirPods in and took off.  I started off a little too quick, but the music was upbeat and I was outside, so I just kept the pace.  I realized about 4 minutes into the run that the ground was no longer moving for me in the sterile environment of a cardio room.  Running on the treadmill was definitely a good substitute with ice on the trails, but it was nothing like the real thing.  

The terrain didn't stay at 1degree.  According to my watch it went up and down quite a bit.  There was no spinning belt keeping me at a specific pace where I just had to ensure my feet kept up.  No, I was self propelled out there in the wild. The ground didn't have a flex deck either so every foot strike felt the full force of the run.  I think I felt my kidneys bouncing at one point.  

I had this false sense that I was way more advanced than I actually was before hitting that trail.  I am sure that the same goes for the spin bike vs the regular road bike.  Or perhaps it is the equivalent of driving in Mario Kart vs getting behind the wheel of a real car.  There are obviously many similarities but it is difficult to recreate the real thing without doing the actual real thing. 

I reflected a bit on this, and I think that it's a wonderful thing.  In a world where so many things have gone virtual it made me think about it in that regard as well.  Facebook Mark is trying to create a virtual world where you can zoom into a concert on the other side of the world and experience the show as if you were there.  I don't think that is possible.  There is nothing quite like a live show. The feeling of standing in a crowd shoulder to shoulder with the bass hitting your chest and draft beer splashing out of a red solo cup onto your hand.  The smell of the festival with bbq vendors or arena popcorn. Or even the theatre show with the cascading seats in an acoustically sound environment where you can feel the murmur of the crowd before the show starts and the hush falling with the first note. 

I think that most of us experienced zoom or teams meetings over the last couple of years.  Those could have been a replacement for work meetings, or even a Friday night round of drinks and stories with friends.  The first one was kind of cool having that buddy that lives in Albuquerque right there at the party, but it grew stale pretty quick.  The feeling of actually being together in the same environment, experiencing the same background noises, and the seeing each other in live dimension cannot be replaced.  I'm actually thankful for that.  Yes, we can move forward with a few things that can be handled with these zoom calls, but there is still nothing quite like a live meeting.  

So enjoy the real thing whenever you can.  Skip the instant oatmeal and cook the oats on the stove this morning.  Forget the zoom call and go see your friend, or better yet take that friend to a live performance from a local country singer (or any other one). Get out to a local authentic Mexican joint and leave the Taco Bell where it is or head down to an arena and catch a local hockey game.  I think I may just do that this evening...right after my run. 

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