So Chris with another of his thought provoking posts (are any of them NOT?) got me thinking about some interesting new ideas plus reminded me of a bit of deep reading I did a year or so ago. Check out the online version of The Cluetrain Manifesto (the whole book!) or, if you’ve got money to burn, pick yourself up a hard copy version at amazon. It’s pretty interesting reading.
Got out again today for a 40 minute run and was surprised to obtain company. I met my friend Doug going the opposite way on the trail so I turned around and invited myself along so we could play catch up on life events.
Compared to me, Doug is a smokin’ fast runner having logged a 3:15 marathon. The guy is over 50 and just keeps better with the passing of each year. Doug’s entered in the World Master’s 1/2 marathon taking place in Edmonton this weekend. He’s seeded 54th out of hundreds and is after a 1:30 half marathon PR.
So, I tagged along for 20 minutes, caught up on all that stuff, and then parted ways to let him pursue the speedy part of his run. I took off my shoes and spent the last 20 minutes in my bare feet. I think that might be the biggest two-day combination of barefoot runs I’ve had and it felt great.
ONWARD!
Guess what else made the Forbes list? The Complete Running blogging tool of choice – WordPress! Congratulations Wordpress!
I went out for about 40 minutes at lunch today. I chose a fairly flat route so I could focus strictly on basic form instead of having to contend with hill climbing and descending.
Conditions were perfect – about 20C, and everything was clicking nicely so I pushed the barefoot distance part of the run. In the end, I logged about 30 minutes with absolutely no wear and tear on the soles of my feet.
I’m a pretty happy camper. Doing a 5k barefoot race in August or September is looking more than possible.
A Passion for Running was chosen as one of Forbes Best of the Web Health and Fitness Blogs! How cool is that?
Top honors went to Scott over at A Trail Runner’s Blog. Congratulations Scott! Well deserved.
I was in Calgary this weekend for my cousin Jennifer’s wedding. I knew time would be short and, for what must have been two weeks, I debated over whether I should tell the Pink Lady I’d be in town. Why the hesitation? Well, because it really sucked being in L.A. a few months ago not being able to connect with Jeff, so there was a part of me that thought, “if I don’t say anything, there will be less dissapointment for everyone”.
But eventually I realized the biggest dissappointment would have come from not trying to meet Dawn so, very last minute, I let her know I’d be coming and asked if she’d like to get together for a little run. Not surprisingly, and in characteristic warm Pink Lady fashion, Dawn let me know that not only would she be happy to join me on Sunday morning, but that she’d be bringing Karen as well (details of the email conversation are over at her place)! “Way cool!”, I thought, and promised Dawn I’d call her bright and early Sunday morning.
So, we arrived in Calgary late Friday evening and went to my cousin’s beautiful wedding at the spectacular world-class Spruce Meadows on Saturday.
I woke up early Sunday morning to follow-through on my promise to call Dawn. It almost didn’t happen since I couldn’t find her damn phone number! It took me three trips to the car before I finally found it stuffed into a box of Timbits we’d bought on the way to Calgary. argh.
Anyway, I went back into the house with number in hand and proceeded to call Dawn. I dialed the number and was greeted by the exact amount of warmth and cheeriness I envisioned since “meeting” her in blogland so many months ago. Dawn confirmed they were still coming and 30 minutes later, a white mini-van was pulling up in front of my cousin’s house…
There was a lot of pink in that van lemmee tell ya and I had NO problem figuring out it was them! 
Hugs were given and conversation easily ensued. Dawn and Karen are lovely, lovely people – they were exactly as I’d imagined them.
Karen drove us to a dowtown YMCA where we walked to an absolutely beautiful running path. Dawn and I brought our camera’s. I got one shot on Lori’s digital before getting the dreaded “I’m full” message (grrr) so Dawn and Karen began clicking away. It was then when I realized Dawn was dragging behind taking pictures of my…um, er…behind. She’s quite a little stinker you see.
We got to the chosen spot where it became easy to see that Dawn and Karen were very proud of Calgary’s running paths. And you know what? They have good reason to be proud – their trails are stunning.
We ran three kilometers in some cold rain. Not very far but it was really more about the meeting than the run so afterward we headed off for a coffee where we got to know each other a bit better and then it was back to my cousin’s where I introduced them to Lori, the kids, my cousin and his “bo”.
It was a terrific morning. I’m so glad I eventually made the right decision and that Karen and Dawn agreed to hooking up! They are lovely, warm ladies I’m so glad I had a chance to meet.
Got out for a leisurely 35 minutes today with a sole focus on keeping my heart rate near 70% of maximum. The task proved easier said than done. The heat coupled with my currently poor aerobic conditioning made it difficult to keep my heart rate below 80% and that was while running pretty slow!
I want to do this test again when it’s a little cooler, as I’m about to embark on a little experiment for getting myself in better shape. I’ll share more on Monday since I’m out of town this next couple of days for a cousin’s wedding.
Happy weekend everyone!
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Edit: The last two kilometers of today’s run were done barefoot and I must say that part of the run went exceedingly well. Absolutely no wear and tear on the feet. I think my pose form was pretty good today!
The recent and continuing plethora of web-based barefoot running “articles” miraculously ending with a plug for the N!ke Fr## shoes makes me nuts. Running in those shoes is not running barefoot. Running in your bare feet means running without shoes.
It saddens me to see a topic so of worthy conversation getting skewed by journalists who obviously have something to gain by plugging this company. Could they not just write about barefoot running?
Argh.
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In other, more accurate news, Mia’s friend thinks I’m Foxy. She’s obviously a person of good taste and judgement.
(Thanks Mia’s friend! I had to write that down since it is a first for me!)
Monday and Tuesday’s runs were a combined challenge. Add the fact that my feet were a bit tender from Tuesday’s barefoot shenanigans and I was up for a light run today.
I hooked up with Nick and Corinne for a jaunt through Millcreek Ravine. I wore Grechten (aka my Polar S625X heart rate monitor
Yeah, right…the best laid plans of mice and men.
We started out slow, but man oh man it sure did not stay that way! We ducked into the dirt and gravel trails were we proceeded to do a heckuva lot of very fun up and down climbing. My heart rate was all over the place but I didn’t care – it was so beautiful to be in those trails and I felt like a cat on my feet. The run ended up to be 55 minutes long – way longer and harder than I’d planned but it sure did feel great!
I gotta find some more trails to run around in!
