Monday, July 13, 2009

15 Miles Almost Barefoot

I had a great run to Southington and back for a total of 15 miles Saturday. The sun was shining, everyone was roused out of their rainy torpor, and it was just plain fun.

I did it in my five fingers, which makes for a new almost-barefoot record for me. Perhaps two miles was actually barefoot, but my skin can only take so much of that before I have to put the fiver fingers back on.

I parked at Hubbard Park and ran to downtown Southington before looping back for a water bottle refill and another few miles to make 15.

Last year I was relying on a banana and celery mixture which I would pour into a waterbottle and sip along my route for calories to keep me going.

Yesterday I experimented with blended watermelon, and I found I liked it better than the banana mixture. Even water-down bananas are thick, and sometimes would lead to cramps over time. The watermelon doesn't seem to do this.

I also spent the second half of my run just following my breath and allowing myself to relax. After awhile it turned into a kind of meditation in motion. Very nice.

The map of my run is below:

2 comments:

Lea said...

I'll be hitting my first double digit run this Sunday (10 miles). Curious on your thoughts on the letter to the editor in Suday's paper about people jogging in the street...

Running Raw said...

Congrats on moving into double-digit territory Lea.

I actually wanted to write a counter letter to that guy, but as a reporter I can't do it.

If he's ever tried to string together a 20-mile run in the city he'll know that the sidewalks, while improving, are still in really rough shape, with many streets with none at all. In many cases, even if the they're unbroken, they're overgrown with bushes and trees.

When running between towns especially there's almost never any sidewalk.

I'd love to use them if they were present and in good condition.