Barefoot in the Park -- Prologue

The other day I took a walk with my dog in this beautiful park. A beautiful park that has been around for the past 20 years and which I've visited only a few times. As I walked around and noticed all the great surfaces a barefoot runner might enjoy, I wondered why I never came more often. I think the part that deterred me the most was worrying about parking.

So, I made a plan to go to that park today and experience some barefoot running there.
But here I am, all ready to go, and I feel that anxious feeling about trying something new. This will be laughable to many people, but the problem is a real one for me.
The answer for me is to stop thinking and just go. So .... here I go! When I get back I'll post some pictures.
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Well, I'm back and BOY did I enjoy myself.
I took so many pictures and had so many thoughts, that I decided to break this adventure up into several parts.
LOL, what's funny about that is that I've recently been reading the adventures of Jason Robillard (author of  The Barefoot Running Book-- which is coming out in a new edition very soon) and he is writing in several installments about his recent attempt to run 100 miles barefoot in the Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run. And what is funny is that he is telling his story in many parts, and I'm about to tell the story of a 1.5 mile barefoot run in several parts too.
But there is a point in this, I'm realizing. It goes back to my philosophy that there is a whole microcosm of the entire experience of being a runner contained in "The Barefoot Mile." I want beginners and slowpokes like me out there to know that when you see these long distance runners and endurance runners and trail runners and long to experience what they are experiencing, you are not as far from it as you think. In fact, by going out and running your little mile that is challenging to you, you are experiencing what they are, even if it is in micro or seed form. The little difficulties, challenges and little running happenings that occur while you're out there are, for the beginner, the same kind of challenges that will come along once you become more advanced, and the attitude and steps you take to solve the little issues is practice for larger challenges ahead.
So, I shall tell my little story about my little, slow, beginner 1.5 mile barefoot run in the big county park.
Click here for Part I -- Setting the Scene

Aha! I found it! Why the Second Metatarsal is Bothering Me

I was doing a little research about the problem I've been having with pain in the second metatarsal head. I was so happy to find a discussion about Morton's Foot on Barefoot Ken Bob's web site, The Running Barefoot.

In fact, I was so excited about finding this information that I ran to share it with my dear husband, who has been helping me diagnose the problem, but he was sound asleep on the couch in front of the TV, so I shall share it on my blog instead.  (Now that I have a blog, he doesn't get woken up as often!)

The poster there ("rcro") was describing many of the symptoms I have been experiencing. It feels like the second bone is poking through the foot and grinding into the ground.  There is a little callous forming right under the spot where that bone is sticking out, just like the barefoot runner who posted described. (Maybe I'll add a picture of the little callous on the sore spot tomorrow when I can photograph it outside in the daylight and not with a flash indoors at night time -- check back.)

I have read stuff on Barefoot Ken Bob's "The Running Barefoot" page before and always learned a lot, but I have to admit the format is a little confusing to me.  It looks kind of like a blog, but different people write the posts, so it comes across kind of like a message discussion board too.  But after having found this information about Morton's Foot there, I'm going to work a little harder to dig out the information that is over there, as it all seems to be very good. I shall also add Barefoot Ken Bob's link to my list of blogs over on the side.

The pain on this metatarsal is one of the main reasons, as I've mentioned before, that I have been holding back from increasing my distance.

They have been having a big discussion about this issue, which you can read yourself on the link above, and I've learned a little something about it.  For one thing, it sounds like I will be able to continue to run barefoot with this condition, and that good form (whatever my own personal good form is) and running on more gravelly surfaces (where will I find that?) will be able to help a lot.

In the discussion, they link to a page from the Trigger Point Therapy Work Book on line called Self Treatment for Morton's Foot, even though another commenter on the thread known as "Footdoc, mentioned below, thinks the information is not 100% accurate. Yet the drawings on the page are helpful, and I think the idea of what is going on with this longer second metatarsal is sketched out enough to illustrate the nature of what might be happening.  As a matter of fact, by trying to compensate for landing on this longer second metatarsal, it may be that I am turning the foot in or out, which could also explain the pain on the outer side of my left foot. Besides turning to ease the pressure on the second metatarsal, I also had a habit of turning because I was told I was a pronator (when a running store guy saw how worn down the insides of my old shoes were) and I from then on purchased running shoes built up with super-strong scientific spongy material that would resist breaking down and prevent me from leaning the foot in, which psychologically cause me to lean toward the outside even more.  Furthermore, if this part of the article form the Trigger Point Workbook is true, it could even be possible that the plantar fasciitis I suffered from last year was really pain from a trigger point caused by this condition while I ran in my shoes.

Another poster who calls himself "Footdoc" responded and said that this longer second metatarsal should not necessarily be considered an abnormality because it is commonly seen.  "Footdoc" suggests that each person has a running form that is "right" for that person. In fact, "Footdoc" posts a link to a discussion on a podiatric message board which shows some fascinating pictures of a foot and where the load is distributed on the metatarsals based on whether the person is running in low gear and high gear. You might want to check it out here.

I was encouraged by some of the suggestions that focusing on the mid-foot strike, relaxing the feet and ankles, keeping knees springy, etc.. can all help. I have additionally surmised that weight reduction on my part would also help.

All in all I am very happy to have found an "answer" to the mysterious sore spot and I look forward to experimenting with better form to help improve the condition.

24.5 Barefoot Miles and Counting

I wanted to run a little further today than I my usual barefoot mile, and I did. I went a mile and a half.  I  really have felt ready to run further, but I've been holding back because of the sore spots on my left foot, especially the 2nd metatarsal head spot (think I mistakenly said it was the third in one post).

I'm not sure what this soreness is.  My husband says he doesn't think it is a neuroma because a neuroma would be between the bones -- between the joints.

But in every way besides that I feel that I can take on a further distance.  My ankles, calves and other foot muscles feel much stronger.  The soles of my feet have gotten a bit tougher.  My other joints, hips, knees, lower back, etc... all feel really good. Cardiovascularly I'm feeling fine.

When I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to try to go further today, but was concerned about that sore spot on my foot, he said, "What's your hurry to increase?"

As I thought about the answer to his question, I realized that it was because of what  I wrote the other day about a chance to run with the author of Born to Run, Christopher McDougall, in Central Park next week. I want to be able to run more than a mile with the barefoot crowd gathering for that event.

I have found out more details about the event since I wrote that initial post about this Harlem-to-Brooklyn run with Barefoot Runners NYC.   The group is starting at the north end of Central Park and running the first three miles through the park and continuing on over the Queensboro Bridge and then on to a park by the bookstore in Brooklyn.

At the point where they emerge from the park, there is the best NYC subway stop for me to use to get myself over to the party at the end of the run.

My ideal situation would be to run the 3 miles through the park, hop on the subway, transfer to a second subway and meet everyone for the little party at the end and hear the talk at the bookstore.

However, as reader's of this blog know, I probably can/should run at most 2 miles of the run through Central Park.  That leaves me with a less-than-ideal situation of walking a mile further to the subway stop.

They say we can join in at any point in the run.  So, I could just wait in the middle of the park for them all to get there and run from that spot to the subway.  But then I would miss the camaraderie of the gathering of barefooted runners at 3pm, and the beginning of the running part at 4pm.  Since I'm so slow, this would make me feel more like I was really participating. Joining in at mile two would mean I'd run along with them for a few minutes and watch them all leave me in the dust. and not really feel connected to the group

Okay, now everyone who reads this blog is going to know how I fall into the trap of thinking way too much. Many times I over-think all the possibilities instead of just getting out there and experiencing it.  Now you have all been exposed to my excessive worrying.

So, right here and right now in front of all my blog readers, I'm going to make a decision. I shall plan to arrive and start right at the beginning of the event.  I will go as far as I can in the park and then meet up with everyone at the party at the end.

There!  Much simpler than mulling and fretting through all the details.

So, now back to testing out an increase in distance with this event in mind.  I decided to set out and just go by feel.  I felt really great, so I went ahead and ran a mile and a half.  It was really wonderful. I feel great now.  The immediate result on that sore spot is that it's no worse.  I have to wait until this evening, and even tomorrow morning to verify that it's not.

So, maybe, just maybe, I will be able to run a little further than a mile at the event next Wednesday.

The 23rd Mile -- A Change of Scenery, Pictorial Essay

This post is going to have a lot of pictures!

The other day while on an errand in another town, the path by the river beckoned me to come over and run.

The River That Beckoned

I could have, because I already had my running clothes on, and all I needed was my bare feet, but I hadn't eaten anything yet that morning, and I also always have to take the dog along and she wasn't with me.

So, I made a plan that today I would do it.

Here's the path and surface that lay before us:

Brick Pavers

Heading towards the GW Bridge

As usual, I set off to walk a 1/2 mile as a warm up first.  This is good for Daffodil, my dog, who was extra excited because we had rode over in the car and come to a new place.  It gives her a chance to do her business a couple of times and sniff things out. It also gets me used to carrying my flip flops tucked in my waist pack, and  gets me used to juggling the things in my waist pack -- the camera, the cell phone, the doggie bags and paper towels -- so that I won't be distracted by them later when I start running.

One thing I had noticed while walking these paths in shoes at other times, is the great amount of goose poop on the path caused by these guys:

However, for some reason, there was not too much today, and what little was there was very easy to dodge around.

The surface of the ground changed as I went along, and my feet, of course, always noticed.

These bluish ones here were nice and smooth.


These red ones were set on an angle, and my feet liked that because they never hit the edges of the pavers, which is what tends to get the bones.

This was my first time running on wood planks.  They were nice and smooth, but I worried about splinters (a new worry). I was really careful here.  There were also nails sticking up from where the boards were seamed.  But it actually felt really nice to run on wood. It was soft.

 This cat did not look too happy to see Daffodil coming along

And this looked a little forbidding, but I didn't want to go in there anyway.

See the guy at the end of the path picking up trash (or maybe even the goose poop)?  When I got up there, I asked him to take a picture.  At first he didn't understand, but when I spoke to him in Spanish then he did.  He was really happy that I spoke to him in Spanish and asked me if I was "Americano." I explained that I had studied Spanish in school and that I try to practice when I can.

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I thought I had not run far enough, and was about to turn around and do another out-and-back at least part of the way, when Daffodil ran over to some shade and just lay down.  "I guess that's it," I thought, and brought her back to the car for some water.  Later, when I got home, I found out that I DID go far enough -- 1.4 miles running after the 1/2 mile walk.  So, it was good.

I was about to get in the car and drive home, when I noticed that one of my flip flops, which had been distracting me the whole way, had fallen out. I didn't exactly want to drive in bare feet, so, Daffy and I had to go back out and find the flip flop. Fortunately, it was only several yards back on the path:

And that's the end of the completion of 23 barefoot miles. (I know the last post said 21, but I wasn't counting some straggler 1/4 miles that with the .4 of this one brought the total up to 23.  But really, does it matter?

A Run with Christopher McDougall?

I received a notice from this meetup group I joined, Barefoot Runners NYC, that announced an exciting event next Wednesday -- a chance to run barefoot with Christopher McDougall.

At first, I was very excited about this opportunity, and thought about how it was something I would not want to miss. It was his book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, that first stimulated my interest in barefoot running.

But in the middle of my excitement I began to worry, due to the details surrounding his visit to Barefoot Runners NYC.  The first point is that I joined this meetup group in order to attend the free Barefoot Running Clinic they sponsored over a month ago with Michael Sandler (author of Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth -- why do these barefoot running books authors always use such long compliated titles?)

This is going to sound so wimpy, but I had to gather a lot of courage to get myself to that clinic.  I tried to get my friend Suzie (not her real name, and more about her below) to come with me but she couldn't make it. I had so many worries surrounding going to the clinic.  I had to find the location. I would be the heaviest person there and would not look like a runner and no one would take me seriously.  I hadn't barefoot run yet, and in fact I had just starting up running again after having been laid off.  This is the kind of new adventure that is hard to undertake when you have been living a limited, secure, sheltered life as a mom at home for the past 18 years.

But, in the end, my passion and desire to find out was greater than all my worries and fears.  When my friend couldn't come, I just realized that I was going to have to just get myself there. I have to admit that I enjoyed the clinic immensely, and was very proud of myself for accomplishing the trip there and back.

After that, I learned that Barefoot Runners NYC met every Wednesday night in Central Park.  Even though I would LOVE to join this group and participate, I have not met up with them yet.  Even though they say they welcome barefoot runners of all levels, I have felt insecure about my running.  As followers of this blog know, so far I am slow and I run a mile.  It would take me almost an hour to get to the park, and that commute time just to go run a slow mile, where I'd fall way behind everyone, and then just come home didn't seem sensible.  I would love to belong to a barefoot runner group so much, but I feel I have to work up to it.  So, I have been planning to try them out on a some night as soon as I feel comfortable running about 3 miles.  I figured that might be sometime in the Spring, but as you also know, I am not putting time constraints on myself this time around.

Well, now here was the e-mail about this Christopher McDougall event and I felt that same kind of desire to come to the run.  Again, gmail from Barefoot Runners NYC said that all levels of runners were welcome.

But a new set of worries are holding me back.

First Worry:  They are meeting in Harlem.  Traveling alone into the city I am nervous about meeting in Harlem.

Second Worry:  They are running 8 miles.  They said in the announcement that you could run any part of the distance.  I, as you know, would only be running a mile (maybe I'd try two for that evening).  I would have to stop in some strange area (would I still be in Harlem at that point?), hop on some kind of transportation, and then meet up with them for the little party in the park they are having down in Brooklyn.

Third Worry:  The book discussion part will be in Brooklyn and when it was over I would have to make my way home alone from Brooklyn. I never go to Brooklyn. I always get nervous when I have to go to places I've never had to navigate before.  Of course the way the public transportation works in the city area, it will be no problem to get home. It's just the whole idea of it that gets me nervous.

So, as I fretted and "angsted" about this, I mulled over what way I could work all this out. I wrote a letter to the leader of Barefoot NYC and still haven't heard back.  I thought he might be able to provide more information (like "oh, there will be a lot of people stopping after a mile that you can hop on the subway with") or something like that. I still haven't heard back from him.

Then I thought of asking my that runner friend of mine, Suzie (not her real name).  She has read Born to Run too and is interested in barefoot running but doesn't think she can do barefoot because one of her legs is a whole inch shorter than the other.  From what I've read, she should be able to barefoot too, but she doesn't want to try it.  She's been wearing aqua socks to run and she puts inserts in one of them to even up her legs.

Suzie is an experienced distance runner recovering from a knee injury (a torn meniscus?) and she is hoping running in the aqua socks will be good for her knee.

I called her last night to see if she would be able to come to the run with Christopher McDougall with me.

She thinks she might be able to do it, and that's good.  But I forgot that she would want to run the whole eight miles.

"C'mon, you can run the 8 miles," she said to me, "just do it."

"Suzie -- did you hear me? --  I've been sticking with this one mile. I have to build the strength in my feet gradually. All the barefoot running advisors say don't do too much too soon.  I really can only run about a mile and a half -- maybe two" I was thinking, how can she possible think I can jump from running a mile to 8 miles overnight?

She said to me, "You know sometimes you have to just tough it out and just go for it."

I blubbered about building gradually etc... All of a sudden my blog posts and my "The Barefoot Mile" philosophy seemed to hollow and pale.

"Well," she said, "I had to stop to get my knee better.  Then when I finally started running again I was babying it and babying it, but I finally just said to my body, 'c'mon, we're doing this' and I just wrapped up the knee and made my body run."

"No," I said, I 'm going to do this the "right" way.  I really injured myself last time -- but come to think of it, I injured myself not by being reckless but when I thought I was being smart, careful and conservative -- and I don't want to have to stop for a length of time again."

"Well," she said, "you are probably smarter and will be running later on with an intact body while I'll be all destroyed." (or something like that).

But I left the conversation realizing that I could also be 80 and still running this barefoot mile and waiting for the time to be right to make my move and run faster and longer.  There is such a thing as being too careful and too conservative and as I read about these other barefoot guys out there with broken toes, and big rocks stuck in their feet and chunks of missing skin I wonder if I'm playing it too safe.

Well, anyway, my friend told me she thinks she can come with me, so I guess I can get excited about going to run with and listen to Christopher McDougall next week.  Maybe I'll find out the Barefoot Running NYC group is comfortable for me too.  Who knows?

21st Barefoot Mile -- Hot Pavements

I broke my schedule this morning and waited a little too long to get out there for my barefoot mile run today.  I got distracted writing a post for my Avocational Singer blog.  I try to be orderly about my blogging, but I guess sometimes -- as many of you bloggers out there know -- when an impulse to write a blog post strikes,  if you have the time, that it can be part of the "joy of blogging" to just go with the flow.

Anyway, the first thing I thought as I took my few steps out was "It's too hot! Maybe I shouldn't go!"

Oh for goodness sake, you're only running a mile.  And you're running so close to home.  In fact you pass your street two times on this route so you can get off any time and go home.

I thought of my friend Robin and the last post on her Athletic Performer blog where she expresses a little exasperation with people who say, "I can't run."

To someone, one of those extreme hardcore runners who go out in the desert and run those Badwater or Death Valley (or whatever they call them) 100 mile + races, my little hesitation about it being a little later in the day and a little hot for my meager little mile might find it laughable.

But, well, for right now, this is my Death Valley run.  But I am so grateful for the presence of Robin and those hard core advanced runners who go out and test the upper and outer limits because they help me face my own little challenges.  I will remember them in the moment when I think I should turn back and forget about it, and they offer some inspiration.

So I ventured out for my 21st barefoot mile a little later in the day.

I have been able to write about this same barefoot mile route for the past six weeks for the main reason of the phenomenon that there is so much to be learned from going around and around on the same barefoot mile.  No mile is ever equal to another, I am finding.

In a book I am enjoying right now -- The Robert Shaw Reader, edited by Robert Blocker --  the late American choral conductor Robert Shaw says this about working on Bach's Mass in B Minor:  He says that "the joy in working on the ... Mass .. is that there is no end to the refinement which the work inpires and commands."

Being almost forced to stay for a long time with this one barefoot mile, I am beginning to feel the same way about running "The Barefoot Mile."  Even without changing my scenery, or varying the hills or terrain, or speed, or any of the many many variables  available to advanced runners, there is so much contained within a simple repeated mile, and I think that's what I'm supposed to be learning right now.

Mr. Shaw continues on to say, "One cannot live long enough -- or encounter so frequently conditions appropriate to its performance -- that one exhausts it or becomes immune to its marvels."

Well, that seems like a bit much to say about the barefoot mile. I guess there is a little bit more to discover within Bach's Mass in B Minor than there is on the run. But something of that spirit is present in what I am experiencing now.  It almost seems like the fruit of my  willingness to put aside goals and plans and ambitions.  That fruit is to find that there is plenty to learn about where you're at right now.  That one doesn't necessarily need to travel far or wide to broaden and deepen one's experience and knowledge.

Hot Pavements - Burning Feet
What was the biggest different factor today?  Well, first and foremost was that the pavers, which I have found to be so delightfully cool in the morning, had heated up and were burning the bottoms of my feet today.

In the morning, there is a big shadow that is cast by the wall.  I usually don't have to run in the shadow and usually don't want to because all the doggies like to go against the wall to do their business.  The shadow was even shorter today, my being out there closer to noon, and as my feet felt the heat I knew I was going to have to just "pretend" I didn't know that I was running in the doggie section and just save my feet as often as I could.

At first, the hot pavement was not too bad, but after about a half a mile, I began running from shady spot to shady spot.  I have stopped taking Vibrams and flip flops along with me, but at one point I wished I had them.  I had to tough it out.

How to Barefoot Walk
Believe it or not, when I've walked my little 1//4 to 1/2 mile warm up every day, I have been feeling very uncoordinated about how to walk barefoot.  Usually my method to get myself started in running is to build up a walking base.  But with barefooting, I did not do that.  Well, actually, I had built the walking base in my Vibrams, but then I just switched to barefoot at the point where I had already started adding running to the workout

My original plan was to merely walk barefoot for a while. The plan was to walk half a mile as a warm up in my bare feet, put on my Vibrams and run a mile.  But somehow I just started barefoot running after walking the first part and never went back.

I suppose it would have been smarter to make a real strong barefoot walking base first.  I guess I just figured the little half mile walking warm up before running would take care of that.

So, I have been feeling off kilter while barefoot walking.  Part of it was because I was trying to land on my midfoot while walking.  I thought that I probably should do that, but only out of my own head.

Then, over the weekend, on a long car ride to the beach, I brought Jason Robillard's The Barefoot Running Book: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running. (I like to toggle back and forth between doing and reading, experiencing and studying.)

Anyway, there was a part where he talked about barefoot walking and I think he said there was some varying opinion about how to barefoot walk.  Some say land on the midfoot and others say it's okay to land on the heel.  "Oh, that's interesting, " I thought.  "That means I have a choice and can play around with it."

So, today, I landed on my heel and it felt way more natural to me.  I am going to be allowing myself to find my natural gait with the walking in the coming days because of that.

The "Other" Barefoot Runner
My friend told me "you're not the only one out there" the other day.  It seems her husband had seen another barefoot runner when he was out for his morning walk.  In one way, I was glad to hear the news, because it made me feel like I had a companion in this lonely venture.  I thought about the mysterious other barefoot runner.  I have never seen him.  Does he come here all the time or was he a visitor?  Does he run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or at different time of day?

Another part of me felt a little sad though.  So far I have been the only barefoot runner I've seen here.  I pass by this boulevard so many times a day, and even if I'm driving by, I always notice all the runners.  I've never seen a barefoot one.  I kind of liked feeling a little "special" (although I didn't realize I had felt that way til after the fact).  Now I know someone else is around doing it, and where there's one, there's gotta' be more.  I wonder when I'll finally see someone.

Towards the end of my run (I almost typed "fun" by mistake, but I guess that wouldn't be a bad typo), I saw my friend's husband out on his walk.  I said hello and then said, "am I the only barefoot runner you've seen today?"  He laughed and said I was the only one today.  I smiled all the way home.

Patience

In my post about my 20th mile, a commenter (ac) points out the quality of having patience.

One ingredient that is going into my fitness plan this time around -- after many stumbles, falls, false starts, etc.. which I have already described -- has been, and must be patience.  Every time I look back at why I "failed" at my last attempt to get myself out there, I come back to the awareness that I lacked patience.  And that is why I have chosen to be patient this time.

Last year -- I think I wrote about this already -- I made a plan to build up my running (after a couple of other "failed" plans in the last 5 years).  The plan seemed very conservative and realistic.  It seemed to give me plenty of latitude, plenty of time to gradually build.  It seemed like such a patient plan.

But when the plantar fasciitis first started to creep in to the scene, I was not patient with it.  I had made a goal of running in the Disney 1/2 marathon. I gave myself a whole year to prepare.  Surely that was reasonable!  Surely that would work!  A whole year!  This plantar fasciitis thing just didn't figure in to the plan. It wasn't in the plan!

But the big mistake I made was putting a time constraint on what I was trying to do.  I had signed up for the Disney 1/2 marathon to motivate myself.  Everybody in my family of origin had all run that race (as well as the Disney marathon and others).  I just pre-decided it would be the perfect plan.  Sign up for it the year before, choose a training plan for a 1/2 for an absolute beginner, use the run/walk method.  It all seemed so right.

But that darned plantar fasciitis spoiled everything.

But here's where the lack of patience came in.  I just didn't want to stop running.  I wanted to stick to my pre-conceived plan.  So I just kept building my miles.  The plantar fasciitis kept getting worse and worse.  I tried all these compromises -- anything but stop running.  I had gotten up to run 2 minutes, walk a minute.  I cut it back to run 1/ walk 1.  I ran slower. I tried to change my form.  I kept my long run the same mileage for several weeks. I took a day off here and there to see if it would just heal enough.

I discussed it with my husband over and over again. I wanted to know if he thought there was a way I could heal the plantar fasciitis while running. "If only you didn't have the pressure of this 1/2 marathon you were training for," he said, "you might be able to work out something where you could heal without stopping altogether.  But you have put this time constraint on yourself."

None of the compromises worked.  In the end I was forced to stop completely because the foot got so bad that I couldn't even walk any more.

This might not be true for everyone, but for me, my own running journey, the message for me right now is that I must not have a preconceived idea of where this is going.

I have signed up for a couple of 5Ks, just in case.  I had even signed up for the Disney 1/2 again, just in case. But none of the little events matters a bit.  What matters right now is paying attention and just enjoying every step of what I run.  It doesn't matter if it's slow. It doesn't matter if it's far. It doesn't matter if I have to keep running my barefoot mile for many months.  It just matters if I am discovering with each step what my body wants to do. My body will tell me when it's time to do something else.