Christmas Trail Run

There were a couple of big highlights to my week. First I had a killer 9 miler where everything just seemed smooth and great. AND I saw another barefoot runner!!! In my little town! He was leading a pack of teenager looking boys. When I first saw them I thought it was probably the cross country team, but after watching them for a while the guy who was leading them had longish hair and a bushy beard, not like our track coach. When I first saw them I thought to myself, "Man that guy has a nice stride." That's when I looked at his feet and saw that he was wearing either Vibrams or socks. I couldn't tell. They were a ways ahead of me and though I tried to catch them, (yes, I was chasing down a bunch of boys just to talk about his footwear) I couldn't. They jaywalked, I crossed at the light and had to wait, and that's where I gave up the chase. Feeling so inspired, I headed to the high school to try barefooting it at the track. I made it a quarter of a mile. It was just too wet and cold. But the next highlight was that my heel was completely black. That little boost gave me a smile the whole way home.

Later that day I was at the running store with Heather getting some wool running socks for the in laws. This little running store is relatively new and they have a small supply of minimalist shoes which is better than most running stores around here. They had some Vibram look alikes that we both tried on. Since they were $45 we both ended up getting them as one more option. My husband asked me just how many pairs of shoes I needed since I was supposed to be barefoot. Good question since I had bought a $15 pair of water socks to see if those would be a good option. I'll have to elaborate on this in another post.

Anyway, we went for a nice little run on Christmas Eve morning in our new shoes. It was a cold morning, but relatively dry. My toes were cold for about a mile and then I must have warmed up and things were good. I liked how they felt and it was pretty close to feeling like I was barefoot. We did 8 miles and felt SO good!

Post run glow!

The last highlight of the week was my Christmas Day run. I woke up feeling like I had been run over. My throat hurt, I was coughing a nasty cough, and felt like I could sleep for a week. After watching the kids open gifts and eating a fantastic omelet and orange cinnamon roll, I headed back to bed for a short nap. I was going to head out for a short run when the husband asked if he could join me. Seriously? He hates to run but has been running about 2 or 3 days a week lately. I secretly think he's trying to see why I like it so much. Anyhow, I wasn't going to pass it up and we decided to try the trail that I love. Things have really melted this month and I thought it would be doable. I planned on the gorilla feet but brought shoes in case it was really snowy.

It was beautiful. There were no human tracks, only deer, rabit, and a small bobcat tracks. I have really missed that trail. I love it. It makes me happy. My feet froze for about 2 miles but I didn't even care. I was with my husband, it was Christmas, and I was in the place where running makes me happy. I love hopping over the streams, navigating the big rocks, climbing the hills, flying down the switchbacks, and feeling like a kid again. I NEED to find some more trails. I didn't take in much of the scenery because I was watching where I was stepping very closely. There's a lot of sharp shale rock in several spots and I was careful not to injure myself. That's one area where I don't know if I could ever go barefoot. But I'd like to try sometime! It was a really great run and although after I showered I went back to bed, I was glad I got out there.

This cold is a continuation of one from a month ago that seems to rear it's ugly head and then calm down. But the cough is what's really getting me. I got put on a steroid yesterday and hopefully that will kick it for good. We'll see!

Monday: 4 mile run (2 miles in socks)

Tuesday: 5 mile run in Evo's, cycling class, stretching

Wednesday: 4 miles run in Evo's, full body weights

Thursday: 9 mile run in Evo's ( 1/4 mile barefoot)

Friday: 8 mile run in monkey feet, full body weights

Saturday: 3 mile trail run in monkey feet