I've been snapping pics during runs for years, so the idea of tweeting seemed like no big deal. Plus, a little live feedback, encouragement, even hazing would provide a few seconds of distraction from the arduous task of moving my body, and the water I was carrying, the required obscene distance.
But, turns out... it was pain in the ass.
Taking a picture when you're sweaty, and huffing and/or puffing, and your heart is trying to pound a hole in your rib cage, is wuh-aaaay easier than typing something remotely coherent under the same conditions. I know, obvious, right? Well, sure.. NOW it is.
Wake up the phone. New tweet. Picture icon. Take a picture. Actually take the picture. Use picture I just took. Type tweet. Post tweet. Uhg.
Stopping to tweet totally killed my pace. And my momentum. And after 10 miles, my will to live.
Worse, the hassle made me think twice about taking some pictures, and twice was all it took for most of them to be cut from the movie. Too bad, too, cause some of them were kinda fun. Just not fun enough to endure the torture of the tweet.
And when i did tweet, I'd start editing myself after I'd posted, thinking "Oh, man, I should have said 'blah blah' instead.", but it was already posted, read only.
Still, fun experiment. I learned a lot. I'll probably tweet some live pics from Big Sur just to share the beauty and the agony, and to let those few who care that I'm still alive. But, a regular feature of DR365 this isn't.
With that glowing introduction... I present the Doug Run 365 Long Run (no longer) Live Tweet:
9:30 AM - 5 Feb 12: Live tweeting on my long run this morning. Vicarious types, run with me!
9:38 AM - 5 Feb 12: I won't be totally alone. A few others on path this am.
9:53 AM - 5 Feb 12: Minor equipment malfunction.
10:19 AM - 5 Feb 12: 86th street chicane.
10:41 AM - 5 Feb 12: Warmish sun, chilly shade making it hard to regulate temp. Sweaty and cold most of the time. [ed. - No picture. Trust me, it's better this way.]
10:49 AM - 5 Feb 12: PBR can art in Broadripple 1/2 way thru long run.
11:01 AM - 5 Feb 12: Holy crap. Transformer just blew up 50 feet from me. Heart pounding extra hard now. [ed. - No picture. We've all seen what a transformer looks like, right?]
11:09 AM - 5 Feb 12: Speed.
11:41 AM - 5 Feb 12: The southern stretch of the Monon is long, straight, monotonous. Perfect training for the last 6 of a marathon.
11:53 AM - 5 Feb 12: 10th street.
12:07 PM - 5 Feb 12: Got[ta] thank my cheering section.
12:15 PM - 5 Feb 12: To commemorate the Super day in Indy, I'm posting today's mileage in huge ass romans [on the circle]. XV baby!
Good running,
Doug
Yeah, it is a bit of a hassle. I can manage it on really long runs, but only because I don't mind taking a break for the few minutes it takes to post. Posting to Facebook is a little easier, and a physical keyboard might help too. But it's fiddly however you look at it.
ReplyDeleteYes, "fiddly" is the perfect word for it. Thanks Marino. And please do keep posting during your ultras. The rest of us find it quite entertaining and fiddle worthy.
ReplyDelete