Unplugged

I have been doing something a little unusual on my runs lately.  I've been leaving my phone and my Garmin at home. 

After months of strapping that tiny little phone that feels like it weighs 10 pounds at the end of a long run to my arm and listening to the sweet sounds of a mile beeping away, it was somewhat terrifying.

A few runs later?  It actually started to feel nice.  Refreshing.  And even liberating.  No longer am I a slave to the Garmin, telling me I am going too fast or too slow and when to start and when to stop my run.  Ima just runnnnnin', just like Forest Gump. 

It makes me flirt with the idea of unplugging myself in the rest of my life.  I start to panic when my phone is not with me.  I wonder why I feel this way.  20 years ago, I didn't even know what a cell phone was and 10 years ago, I would have never imagined using one for something other than to make a phone call.  Now, I get emails, FB notifications, text notifications, Daily Mile notifications.  Thank God I don't twitter.  I've actually been turning some of the alerts off.  I am kind of tired of feeling like Pavlov's dog, jumping at every ping. 

And what is to come of my children's generation?  I've watched them become obsessed with the king called technology faster than an email can come through my smart phone.  Last weekend, my parents "vacationed" - I know it was more "escaped their house guests" - to the beach.  My 3-yo asked me several times a day, "Mommy, is Grandad's iPad still at the beach?"  Not Grandad. His iPad.  My older two will start playing a game on my phone and I could yell, "WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD TO HAVE ALL YOU CAN EAT HALLOWEEN CANDY!" and they wouldn't even flinch. 

So, while unplugging is scary, to me, the thought of NOT being ABLE to unplug is even scarier.  I will plug that Garmin back in and start the daily grind runs again next week.  But, I am going to try to unplug myself a little more often...in life and running....and hope to teach my boys that it is okay to do the same.