Running use to be so easy. Shorts, shirt, a favorite pair of Asics and maybe an iPod tucked in my pocket. There was a great freedom in the act of running and each run was a new adventure. Somewhere along the way, running became complicated.
I don’t know exactly when it began. Could have been the hip problem which had me in PT for months or maybe the foot issues that left me with a falling arch but sometime in the last year, running fell off my radar. I replaced it with lots of walking and some bicycling and didn’t think so much about running. As far as I was concerned, my body was no longer able to handle the stress.
Then last week, a couple of girls from work asked me if I wanted to do a spring triathlon with them. None of the girls are particularly athletic so the question came as a bit of a surprise. Sure, I said without thinking. Then I started thinking….
During the endless chatter about a tri, someone (it might have been me) suggested we do the Marine Corp Mud Run in September. The other girls dashed to their computers to look up last year’s run and with a resounding “looks like fun, let’s do it as a team,” I once again I found myself caught up in a challenge, without thinking. At this point I should mention that there is a 40 year difference between the youngest member of our adventure team and me. Oh, and no one my age did the Marine Corp Mud Run last year.
So tonight I found myself surrounded by a combination of running shoes, inserts and laces, attempting to find the right combination that will allow me to run somewhat pain free. After a few starts out the front door, I ended with discarding my old Asics, new Brooks and new flat shoe laces. For tonight anyway the perfect combination was the new inserts, old round shoe laces and fairly new Asics 2160’s.
