In The Groove

Yesterday I ran three miles, the first half with shoes and the second without. Although it was above 40 degrees, it was very windy and the pavement and sidewalks were wet in places so I wore shoes to give my feet a chance to get warm before I ran barefoot. During the barefoot part, I felt my form was off and towards the end of the run my feet were warning me that a blister was in my future if I didn't mend my ways.

The weather today was nice--45 degrees, dry, and a slight wind--so I thought I'd go out for an easy two miles and just concentrate on form, mostly setting my feet down and picking them up without any twisting or pushing. After the first mile I was doing well so I picked the pace up a little. After the second mile I decided to do one more and speed it up some more. It felt great and my feet were doing wonderfully. It's nice when you get in the groove every now and then.

There's a gravel/dirt shortcut made by people taking the most direct route to and from the Don Kardong bridge and the path going alongside Gonzaga. When I first started running barefoot I would carefully walk that because it hurt my feet. Now I can run up and down it with impunity. Don't ask me what impunity is. Hopefully, it's not something you don't want to step in. Like goose poop. Which is something I desperately try to avoid.

During the cool-down walk back to work, a man walking in the opposite direction pointed at me and said, "So you're that guy." So...yeah...it looks like I'm gonna need a bodyguard or something to keep the public and paparazzi at bay. Ha!