Bobble Head

Setup Events is the name of the company that produces Triathlons in North Carolina and surrounding states. They do a superb job putting on races!

A few years ago, they redesigned their website and made it all flashy. As a web developer, I’m not a big fan of flash on websites because it slows the page down and often just annoys the user, rather than enhancing their experience.

The flash on Setup’s home page shows a guy running while it loads, then some race action photos with text that tries to be poetic, but instead comes across lame. So, I made my favorites/bookmarks point to their race overview page, instead of their home page. Just the facts, Ma’m.

While I was at the beach using my laptop computer, on which I have no bookmarks, I visited Setup’s home page. So, once again, I had the opportunity to see their lame flash. Click here to watch that guy running. Refresh that page a couple times and watch some more. Notice the guys head bouncing up and down while he runs. What a waste of energy.

Then it dawned on me. THIS IS HOW I RUN! I’ve known for a long time that I tend to look down at the ground, probably to avoid tripping. I knew that this was bad, and made some effort to look straight ahead, but habit always won, and I’d end up looking down again.

But observing this animation was a real wake up call at just what looking down does: it wastes energy and throws off body balance and posture.

For the rest of my beach trip runs, I tried hard to focus on looking straight ahead, with my head aligned to my spine, and imagined that there was a string going into the top of my head, through my spine, and pulling me up. (this is a Pilates visualization.) The wonderful beach scenery gave me additional incentive to look around and enjoy the view.

Even now that I’m home, I am doing this, and it does feel better. And it’s more enjoyable. I never noticed all the pretty trees and flowers that I run past every week. As my friend, Collin, said: “Look around at all the beautiful things in nature. Smell everything. Wave and smile at everyone you see…”. I did my six mile run to the lake and back and I even waved and a couple of people yesterday! It is a mental effort, especially as I fatigue, to keep myself from reverting back into the bad habit of looking down. But a worthwhile effort and is my new running focus.

So, no more bobble head for Carol!