Shoes

Oh yes it got pretty chilly last night, but I've felt colder here, so 3 layers, my long tights, and the new Glycerin 8's headed out after sunrise. I sit all day at work; I try to wander around the building at regular intervals, just to keep my circulation going, but running is the only time I'm really out with physical effort, stretching past my comfort zone, pumping my system up.

I was skeptical about the new shoes up until around the 3rd mile. Brooks only make running shoes. I've been an Asics fan, then a brief go with Under Armour when they began making running shoes...I had a good thing going with the Glycerin 7's. The first miles on new shoes is always good news/bad news. They exude the wonderful feel of virgin manufacturing; mine are lavender, white, silver- and the plush cushioning of a shoe that has not yet broken in. The down side is they are not yet broken in! The first few miles, my right foot was not happy, which meant my right hamstring and hip protesting all the way down the road. I was facing into the wind which came up after an initial lull...By the end of Arthur street I walked the stretch to 58th. After hydration and stretching at the park I turn back on Thomas and the straight away home. Somewhere past the Voc-tech and school I finally felt a relaxation in that foot...and had a pretty easy ride to the end, walking out the last bit.

Shoes are the exoskeleton of the runner. You can wear about anything, but shoes are the vehicle of the run. I know the bare-foot folks are pumping up the anti-shoe message; I've done my share of beach running- I love the feel of bare feet on wet (level) sand. One of my best runs ever was on an empty Daytona beach, the widest, flattest expanse of sand in all Florida- years ago when a novice runner....I took off, barefoot and didn't stop to turn around until I lost my original starting place, finding myself completely alone with the ocean- in bliss....

Post MCM it's still all about working out that right sided mess I have. I realize today that if I pull out 25 miles a week I'm doing pretty good, which still sounds pitiful compared...the pressures of everything else increase with the internal pressure to 'perform'...and I am determined to reframe running as my escape from pressure. I hope, with new shoes, it opens a new chapter to do just that.

We are all wobbling our way along with the planet, while it shifts and groans through so many changes. Keeping any discipline alive places a foundation that modifies the effects of constant shifts. Running entrains more than the body's many intricate systems; it syncs the hemispheres of the brain, and the mind with heart and soul. I keep in mind all the wisdom I can muster to make any effort a worthy one. And I remember the bliss of every good run even in the middle of challenging ones. On we go!