I recently read Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, and I think you should read it too. Here's what I wrote when I pimped it on another blog: 

The Amazon blurb starts out describing this book as “Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration.” It’s an absolutely fascinating read, deeply satisfying on a number of different levels. You can simply enjoy the fast-paced story that builds up to a fifty-mile foot face made up of semi-crazed ultrarunners and a tribe of nearly superhuman Tarahumara Indians, or you can also soak up the brain-bending thesis about why we were born to run and why the current plethora of overly cushioned fancy athletic shoes is making it so hard on our bodies to do so. Finally, I can almost guarantee reading this will change how you think about running, and light a fire in your soul to get out there and give it a try.

I loved every page of this book, it was so exciting and interesting and just the perfect thing to be reading right now. I've always thought of running as something unpleasant that people do anyway because it's healthy, and this book got me to begin understanding the passion behind it. The people in the book are mainly ultrarunners, and you'd think that mindset would be hard to identify with—I mean, they run hundreds of miles, on PURPOSE—but this perspective, their hardcore love for running, infused me with a newfound determination. 

"...Ann insisted running was romantic, and no, of course her friends didn't get it because they'd never broken through. For them, running was a miserable two miles motivated solely by size 6 jeans: get on the scale, get depressed, get your headphones on, and get it over with. But you can't muscle through a five-hour run that way; you have to relax into it, like easing your body into a hot bath, until it no longer resists the shock and begins to enjoy it."

There's also some mesmerizing stuff in the book about how we humans were evolved to run, how we physically peak as runners at 27 but don't start to decline until 64 (!!), and how we are designed to run without shoes. 

"The deconditioned musculature in the foot is the greatest issue leading to injury, and we've allowed our feet to become badly deconditioned over the past twenty-five years," Dr. Hartman said. "Pronation has become this very bad word, but it's just the natural movement of the foot. The foot is supposed to pronate. [...] Your foot's centerpiece is the arch, the greatest weight-bearing design ever created. The beauty of any arch is the way it gets stronger under stress; the harder you push down, the tighter its parts mesh."

The chunky heels on Nikes were originally invented because the company's co-founder thought runners could get a longer stride if you step ahead of your center of gravity and land on your heel, instead of the natural mid-foot strike. As more arch support and side buttressing has been added over time, the more our feet have atrophied as a result. Basically, the idea is that the more fancy your super-cushioned running shoes are, the worse they are for your feet. And the more injuries you will get as a result. 

"We found pockets of people all over the globe who are still running barefoot, and what you find is that during propulsion and landing, they have far more range of motion in the foot and engage more of the toe. Their feet flex, spread, splay, and grip the surface, meaning you have less over-pronation and more distribution of pressure."

I'm not going to get out there and run barefoot, but I did buy a new pair of shoes after reading this book. And you know what? I absolutely love them. They don't look anything like my old shoes: they're lightweight, really flexible, and I can feel my toes gripping with each stride. 

(Plus, they're practically neon red. I may look like a dork out there, but by god you'll see me coming.)

Anyway, Born to Read is a great, great read. I highly recommend it, especially for my fellow NOLA half-marathon trainers.

Yesterday I did my 3-mile run from the boys' daycare again (riding over with my husband and the kids, running back home from there) and boy, do I ever keep lucking out with the weather lately. Two days ago, it was pouring. This morning? Giant torrential downpour. But yesterday during my run the sun was shining and the skies were clear, and aside from the soggy storm-related detritus of branches and leaves I kept plowing through, I stayed dry and comfortable.

Mostly comfortable, that is. I swapped my running tights for looser workout pants, and man, never again. Running tights may make me feel like a goon, but they feel about a thousand times better than pants that flap around my legs and sag at the waist. Oh, and here's my question of the day: how do you secure your iPod cord? If I don't attach mine to my shirt, it eventually drags at the earbuds, but the tiny binder clip I've been using has now rubbed a sore spot into my skin. ATTRACTIVE.

Mileage: 3 miles
Pace: not known for sure because once again I stupidly forgot to restart the watch after waiting at a crosswalk, DUH, but my best guess is around 10:00.

Why is this always so hard to remember? That no matter how much it sucks to pull on the gear and step out the door, the chances of regretting a run—or any workout—are basically nonexistent?

Time: 28:36
Mileage: 2.74
Pace: 10:21

My question for you guys: what do you do when you get a side stitch? I tried walking for a bit, running at a slower pace, taking regulated breaths, and stretching my side, but not much helped. By the time I got about 2 miles in it had subsided a lot, but was still there lurking in the background. I hate to think of that happening the day of the race, it definitely makes things a lot, lot harder.

What the iphone did not tell me was that the wind was blowing approximately 157 miles per hour, so that warm 46 felt slightly chillier than expected. The wind actually blew my earbuds out of my ears several times during the run. I run along Lake Michigan, and the waves were crashing with such force that I was getting sprayed the whole time. Now look: we like to SAY that Lake Michigan is like an ocean because it is so big, but ocean-sized waves are NOT NORMAL. Still, running in such intense wind strangely made the run go faster, and made me feel like a total badass. I was the only one out there, braving the elements, and if I could run in wind like that, I could do anything, you know?

(Except maybe rain. Rain is predicted for Thursday's run. We'll see how that goes.)

Unrelated: as a way to ease into my work day, I was just investigating some hotel options in New Orleans and it appears that the freking Ritz Carlton is only $148 a night. That must be a typo, right? And even if it's not, I should do the responsible thing and stay in the $95 a night Comfort Inn anyway, or something? Because man, I do not get a lot of chances to stay in hotels with "ritz" in the title, and it's awfully tempting.

I stepped it up a bit with the dog this morning. She's in good shape,
but she's still adjusting to the long (for her) runs. I walk for a
tenth of a mile, after each mile, and try and monitor her breathing as
much as possible. But today I kicked up the stride a bit and she did
OK. She pooped out at the end, and we walked for the last two tenths,
but I'm still excited by how well she's responded. It's really fun to
have her out there with me, and any extra time I get with my dog is
worth the slower pace.

Tomorrow, though, I'm interval training all over the place. Garmin
owners: how did you program intervals? Did you set alarms? I only ask
because my instructions for it are packed in a box. I suppose there is
always the Internet.

Linda mentioned how strong she's been feeling, and I'm feeling the
same lately. I don't know if it's the colder air or just the work I'm
putting into this, but each run leaves me feeling better than the
last. Which is good because the rest of my life isn't feeling so
certain right now - house, still not closed on - and it's nice to have
something to turn to during the week that does exactly what it
promises.

"The more I thought about what I get to do, the less I realized I had
to do. It was just a shift, just a new perspective, just a new and
more grateful method for labeling the things in my life. Think about
it—if you stopped yourself every single time you were about to say, "I
have to" and changed it to "I get to," it might change your entire
experience."

Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers blog

I liked this one. When applied to just about everything, it ultimately
makes us much happier people, doesn't it? Happy training everyone!

It's been a hard week for me. I feel like I need to go ahead and give a big disclaimer that I am well aware that "hard" is relative. I'm not suffering from the flu, carrying a baby, taking care of a baby or two or three, or going through anything that anyone would consider "hard." But nonetheless. It's been hard. Very little sleep for various reasons and all of the accompanying ridiculousness -- you know how you have those days when everything that can be broken, dropped, spilled, run into, tripped over, or ruined is just that? I was just stumbling, bumbling, and fumbling around all week. Broken dryer, broken iPhone, broken spirit over epic battle with the electric company. The pelican runs and the concert were definite high points, but overall, my eyes stung with tiredness and I made a mess of just about everything.

Which is why this morning's run was a welcome relief. I knew I had a very busy day ahead -- working on a big school project (taking a 10-minute break to write this entry), washing tons of laundry and drying it at my neighbor's house because my dryer won't start, baking pumpkin pecan muffins for a co-worker who had surgery last week, and just basically trying to get myself together for what is going to be another exhausting (but hopefully better) week ahead.

I did my grocery shopping first thing to get that over with and then set out for a 40-minute run. I made it 3.68 miles at a 10:52 average per mile pace, which could have been better but could have been worse. What felt good was going faster the second half of the run than I did the first, which is unusual for me. I had a lot of trouble getting going, but about 20 minutes in, I started feeling somewhat stronger and better about the whole scenario. It was a beautiful and perfect sunny morning, and I decided I might as well try to somewhat enjoy myself.

Overall, I feel good about it, and I feel good about having decided to start training for the race 18 weeks out. It's such a long time that it takes a lot of the pressure off, and I don't feel too rushed on building up to the long runs on the weekends.

Today's Best Running Song: Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. This band wasn't a big part of my childhood ... I only first heard this song in this spectacular wedding video, and now it's one of my very favorite running songs. I cannot help but feel happy when I hear it and like I could run on and on and on.

Unlike Linda, my 6 miles today did not feel all blissful and easy, but I did it.  I took walk breaks every 15 minutes for one minute each, which really helped my breathing and the stitch in my side I got about 30 minutes in. (I think my inhaler is running out of medicine.  Is there a way to test this? It definitely FEELS less effective.)  But I did it.  I listened to a This American Life podcast (brilliant suggestion, Sarah Lena!)  and while the time didn't fly by or anything, it definitely was moving along at a good clip.  And psychologically I feel better knowing that I pressed on and did a full 6 miles, even though I wanted to stop after 3.  I'm trying to trust the training, and pushing myself through a long, not-perfect run is a good experience to get under my belt.

One word of warning:  it's starting to get dry here, so I put on some hand lotion right before leaving on the run.  I have never noticed a smell to this hand lotion before, but as I put it on I noticed the faintest of granny lotion smells.  As I ran, the heat from my body must have activated the stink in the lotion or heightened my smell receptors or something, because ALL I SMELLED ALL RUN was that horrible combination of powdery and floral and slightly medicinal smells that nasty granny hand lotions have.  I'm still smelling it, actually, several hand washings later.  So, consider this a warning:  beware of strong lotions before you run, because they might make you want to barf.  You're welcome!