Remember When

I couldn't sleep the other night, and I wrote that really silly blog because my mind needed something to do other than try to sleep?

That was a sad day.

Today is much better. Lets look at the facts.

This morning was really cold, but then the sun came out and the weather was beautiful, and I walked around in short sleeve shirts...nope, just the one. I just had on one short sleeve shirt. I wore it well though.

Anyway, I mean to say it was lovely. Then there's the blessed reality that my eyelids are drooping as I type, though it's only 9:25 PM, which bodes well for a blissful night of rest soon to follow.

Also the delightful temperatures today forced me outside for a run I thought I was too tired to do, but instead I thoroughly enjoyed.

RUN?! you ask. Why yes, run. Even though I just ran 13.1 miles on Saturday, my thirst for running was not satiated and I have gone twice since then. Monday I just ran on the track because it was cold out, and I wanted to work on speed a little. I only went 3 miles, but two of them were barefoot.

Let me break here to tell you that this barefoot phenomena craze is, in fact, phenomenal. I read Born to Run while down in Moab, and other than having me now planning 100 mile ultra marathons in my future (yeah right, but then...maybe), it also told me things I already suspected about running without shoes. It all started when a co-worker showed up in those ridiculous five fingered vibrams or whatever. The silliest looking shoes I've ever seen, but after discussing them with him, I have begun to see them more and more on all kinds of people. I didn't know much about the idea though, the philosophy behind it, just that some people thought it was better for you to run without your shoes.

Then, one day very early into my training for this half marathon...(so early, in fact, you might well consider that I wasn't actually training but simply attempting to move my slug-like body around a track a few times), I was having a ridiculously hard time and began to hurt everywhere. I think I'd gone a whopping total of 1 mile, when my body just started to shut down. I couldn't breathe, my knee hurt, my hip hurt, this other weird thing on my front ankle hurt, I was, in effect, falling apart. But no! I couldn't stop at ONE MILE! It was preposterous. So I hearkened back to my previous encounter with Mr. Vibram, the 5-toed, and decided to give it a whirl. I kicked off my shoes and went sailing around that track and voila! all my pain and injuries were history.

It was a miracle. And it has been in the back of my brain for awhile now. So reading Born to Run, I obviously related to what it said, and believed it when it stated that we are cushioning our feet into little comas, which result in running injury after injury every year, despite paying hundreds of dollars for these high-tech shoes.

Okay, why did I go on that tangent? I don't remember, and I'm not going to backtrack to figure out the grammatically correct way to continue. I'm just going to wow you all by stating that the first time I went running after my half marathon was Monday. I wanted to take it easy, so I went to the track and I ran a mile in shoes to warm up, then "kicked off my running shoes....jeez, louise...blah blah blhah" did you get the song there? I apparently don't know the words. anyway, point being, I felt like a gazelle, like a deer, like I was soaring through the air and my feet were hardly touching down. They were hardly touching down. And I ran that second mile a full minute faster than the first, and it felt magnificent. The last lap I tried to just run, fast as I could, with a sprint at the end that was unlike anything I've ever felt before. It was great. So great that I decided to run another mile after that. Tacked on 30 seconds, but some of that might be due to the large blood blisters I got on my toes which are unused to the lack of coma-inducing cushioning.

Anywhoo...running. Ah yes, so then today I went for another run. Because the weather was so nice, I went to my trails. If I am any kind of runner, it would be a trail runner. That is where I come alive, where I don't care about mileage or time, I care about leaping over that bush, or dodging that rock, or watching the two birds just soar and play in the wind, or startling that deer...it's the best ever and I went today even though I was tired and moody and didn't want to. And afterwards, bless you endorphins, I felt amazing. Scooted home with a big smile on my face and hope in my heart. Yes, a good day.

My calves are unbelievably sore, also from the barefoot running I think. Gotta re-train these muscles it seems, but it's well worth it.

Do I have a point to wrap up here? I think not. Just needed to point out how things are much better than that night, with no stress about sleep and no 13 miles to run tomorrow (thought maybe 13 hours to work! Yikes). yeah, that's all really.

oh, I do intend to blog about the half marathon but my mom took most of the pictures and I may never see them again, if things go as they normally do. So hopefully that will come soon. In the meantime, I have a rendezvous with the sandman I don't want to miss. Until next time!

Peace