First Run

Yesterday was my first run of the year, and it felt like it. It was fairly short at 45 minutes, but I was able to through some trails in to the mix, so it was fairly entertaining. There is still a fair amount of snow in the woods, and the trail that I was on has seen some winter traffic, so the footing was variable.

As most runners can attest, the beauty of running is its simplicity. The only gear you have to deal with is a pair of shoes: no pumping, lubing, waxing, scraping. You don't have to worry about the weather, you don't have to think about grooming, and no driving to the trail head. Over the year, however, running for me has become somewhat more complicated. In high school, getting ready to run involved throwing on some Umbros, some cheap Air Pegasuses and a cotton shirt then blasting down the road at 6:30 pace. Now it's orthotics in the shoes (which are Asics Kayano's at $150 a pair due to my GD foot problems), liner shorts, shorts (or tights if its less than 50 degrees), poly propylene top, hat, water bottle belt, and various anti chaffing acutrements before warming up slowly for 15 to 20 minutes at 8:30 to 9 minute miles before turning it up to maybe 7:30 or 7's (if I'm really feeling it).

The joints are a little sore today, but in past years, I have basically just run through the pain for the first couple of weeks. After that, the pain usally lessens as my ligaments, muscles etc get used to the running motion and the pounding. Just one other thing that differs from when I was a wee bit younger. (I can already see my older running and skiing buds' eyes rolling).