+++
date = '2025-10-16T00:01:00+02:00'
draft = false
tags = [ "running" ]
title = 'Leaving the track'
+++

I skipped the second session this week.
Or maybe I just hit my limit.
Running in circles around a stadium — again and again — it wears you down.

Last time, I finished strong, the last five minutes flat out.
Today, I just needed air. Asphalt. Dirt.
Exit the track.

I started easy. Legs felt good.
Bit by bit, I picked up the pace without really meaning to.
It felt great — almost freeing.

I told myself I’d try to keep it up for thirty minutes.
Nothing guaranteed.
A few times, I wanted to stop, just for a moment — but no.
At worst, I slowed down for a hundred meters, then got back into it.

I felt good.
Deep breaths, steady rhythm.
And then I passed the 4 km mark.
5 km under 30 minutes suddenly seemed possible.

So I didn’t let go. Not until the end.
I wanted to see what I had in me.
A first real test — rough, improvised, but real.
There had to be a first one anyway.

The first kilometer was too relaxed, really.
Right there, I could easily shave off a minute.
The margin’s there — now it’s just about keeping on.

Keeping on leaving the track, breathing outside air,
and, above all, keeping those easy runs.
Because, as they say:

> to learn to run fast, you must first learn to run slow.

Maybe I’ll even add a third easy session during the week.
But that, I’ll let my body decide.