The other day as the bride dropped me off on her way to work so I could do a run back to the house, I covered a different route that I had not been on for a couple months. The roadside was replete with litter. As I usually do, I grab glass bottles from the edges of the farmers' fields and drop them off at the next home's mailbox; the plastic bottles I ignore; and the aluminum cans I smash and carry back with me.
I drop the cans at a neighbor's house, a woman who gathers aluminum for recycling, and donates the proceeds to the American Cancer Society's local Relay for Life.
Well, since I had not been on this route in awhile, I quickly had more smashed cans than I could carry. I dropped the surplus at a mailbox and brought about half a dozen cans to my neighbor.
Anyway, I got to thinking about carrying things, and handedness. See, Utrarunners--unlike most road runners--frequently run while carrying stuff. Usually we are talking water bottles or flashlights, but in my case it was beer cans.
The insight I had was that I noticed I tend to carry things in my non-dominant hand. Thus, being righthanded, I carried the flattened beer cans in my left hand. It just feels more natural. And when I thought about how I carry a flashlight or water bottle while trail running, it's also in my non-dominant (left) hand.
Perhaps it's an instinctive thing that we tend to leave our dominant hand open for emergencies, or maybe it's just a personal quirk with no greater significance. But next time I carry something, I will make a concerted effort to change hands. I have read that it helps in brain health to vary one's routines to establish new neural pathways.
My brain needs all the help it can get.
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