Emotionally Numb Runner Does 12x400 Track Workout Just to Feel Something
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A local runner who’s grown emotionally numb did a brutal track workout yesterday, Dumb Runner has learned, just to feel something.
Eleanor Rigby, 46, began the workout at a high school track around 10 a.m. Sunday, sources said, warming up with a 1-mile jog before launching into a dozen 400-meter repeats, recovering for 200 meters in between.
Witnesses described the effort as “beyond intense,” saying that Rigby, by all accounts a strong runner, was clearly suffering with each successive repeat. At the same time, sources close to Rigby called the workout just what she needed.
“Eleanor has really been struggling these past several months, like many of us have,” said one close friend, who requested anonymity. “The news has been awful, all day every day, and there’s no escaping it.”
“Eventually, she just sort of shut down, emotionally,” the friend added. “Like as a defense mechanism.”
Rigby’s punishing workout, the friend said, “at least gave her a chance to feel something, you know? Even if that thing was pain.”
Sunday’s workout was not the first time Rigby has used running as an emotional outlet, other sources said, describing 35-mile long runs, mile repeats done in a generic office park, and trail runs involving “thousands and thousands of feet” of vertical gain.
“I’ve known Eleanor since high school, and I’ve never seen her in such a tough place, mentally,” said another close friend. “I’m glad she has running to help her cope, but I do hope she isn’t overdoing it.”
Asked whether she herself uses intense exercise as a coping mechanism, the friend laughed.
“Oh hell no,” she said. “I drink.”
