Keep On Trucking And Improving

So this is what it feels like to start running and keeping consistent.  To refresh anyone who cares, I started running last week.  Admittedly it's not a "run the entire time" type of running.  That said, I have been improving and sticking with it.  

Saturday marked a new best for me in my current state.  Total distance of 1 Mile.  I'm pretty sure that I only walked about half the distance.  Afterwards I felt wasted.  Of course, it didn't help that I had decided to run during the afternoon in the heat of Summer.  I hadn't run that long since I was in College.  The difference this time was that instead of every joint in my body screaming at me, all of the discomfort was muscular.  That night I took a soak in Epsom Salts for my legs.  It definitely helped.  

On Sunday I was so exhausted from the day before that I took the day off.  Not really much accomplished.  Not very much of anything to tell.  

Today I went running again, and you know what?  I did it again.  This time I went 1.3 Miles even with the Summer afternoon heat again.  I also had the chance to take care of other things today as well.  Made munchkin a Bacon and Cheese omelet for breakfast.  Cleaned up around the house.  Took care of some things for the possible mortgage modification.  Got a carpet cleaner so we could shampoo the carpets.  Put together the wire kennel in preparation for the new puppy (another story for another time).  And so on.  It was definitely a productive day.  

Having a productive day always puts me in a good mood and start thinking about doing bigger things.  In fact, I've started to work on the outlines of an idea for a startup company.  I'll probably have to put together a Kickstarter proposal to get some seed money, but I can definitely see the long term for this.  It's going to be a lot of work and I'll still look for a new job, but variety (and challenges) are the spices of life.  I'll end with this quote that I will always remember:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Rice University, Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962

Gaps Can Be Interesting

Long time no post.  Oh well, there goes that "I will absolutely do this every day" idea.  As to diet and exercise I have not been consistent.  I made it through disc 5.  Unfortunately that can happen when you start out so out of shape.  Doing better now though.  I did go out and buy some new shoes to take a new approach.

What did I do?  My wife has been a proponent of barefoot running, etc for a long time.  I have flat feet and have worn orthotics for a long time.  She insisted that my foot and a lot of the muscles around the arch haven't worked for many years.  Reading Mark's Daily Apple made a very compelling case.  So, we went to REI and bot a pare of barefoot shoes.  Merrell Bare Access 2's to be exact.  Of course, it's easy to overdue as detailed here.

So far, it's actually been pretty good.  Some days can be pretty sore and others are fine.  I definitely feel a change going on in my legs.  The first day I thought "let's go to the store and I'll wear them walking around there."  That was brilliant as my legs were on fire with pins and needles throughout my feet and calves by the time we finished.  After recovering I took it a little easier.

Yesterday I decided to take an incremental approach running with these shoes.  Turns out, everything I was told was correct.  Running with correct form (which you end up doing with these kind of shoes) is incredibly easy on your knees, hips, back, etc.  Granted, I only ran 1/3 of a mile and was huffing and puffing like made when I finished.  The end result was that I felt great.  Today I walked 3/4 of a mile with the munchkin (with a little run the last 1/10th) as a recovery day.  I'm registered for a 5K run/walk.  Who knows, maybe I'll be able to run at least half of that.  Definitely have a positive outlook right now.