Running for Your Life: Rock 'N' Roller

Twenty years – no, thirty years – ago this message had one tell. Music and dance. “My Own Way to Rock” by Burton Cummings, “Old Time Rock and Rock” by Bob Seger, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets. Rock! Rock! Rock!

In those days I never gave rolling much thought. Or any thought for that matter. What was it that rolled? Your ankle bone in the socket? Your head on your neck? Your stomach on the floor? What?!

Rock, though, that made perfect sense. When Burton Cummings belts out “My own way to rock!”, I get it in every fiber. But when he follows that with, “My own way to roll!”, I’m puzzled. He’s into baking pies?

Happily, after thirty years, I’ve found it. My own way to roll. If you are a runner of a certain age, you gotta roll. On a roller, that is (see at right). Three decades of running leads to muscle tears, pulls, damage of all types, and fifteen to twenty minutes a day of rolling those muscles (hammies, calves and groin) does absolute wonders in repair, making it possible for you to not only run every other day but to build the foundation for training another marathon. For me, that’s July 27, my mom’s birthday, with K! at the Nova Scotia Marathon.

So join me on the road, sure. But don’t scrimp on the roller. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what your age. Find Your Own Way to Roll!

Next: Running for Your Life: March !