(as close to) barefoot running (as I can get), day three

Third run with the TSLA Baretreks – note here that I use gel inserts, hence the (as close to) of the title: with T1D, I have to be careful with my feet and avoid any and all injury to them as best I can; the Baretreks + Scholls or whatever brand CVS has in stock is my happy middle ground – and I'm sold: my ankles dont hurt as much; it's a totally different grip on the varied surfaces – even the tiny jabby stones of the hillside running trail don't bother me – I traverse each time I venture out (asphalt, gravel, mud, grass, ditch, unplowed cornfield); and, while it may be my imagination, it feels like I can move faster. I'll be curious to see how long each pair lasts – though it's not like it's the end of the world to replace them ($40+/- a pair) with greater frequency than regular running shoes. Worth the trade-off, so far.

running to stay vertical (out of spite)

A year and a half after blowing out my back (stupidly) carrying a standup freezer by myself down uneven-at-best basement stairs (I was pissed about something stupid and refused all help which was, say it with me, fucking stupid), I've managed to get myself back into a daily running routine. Aiming, by late Spring, to get back to my six-miles-a-day (I'm currently doing half that).

Why six miles, you ask? Simple, really: spite.

In Haruki Murakami's WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING, he said that he ran six miles a day six days a week. Loved that book, but HATED his 1Q84 follow-up, COLORLESS SOMETHING SOMETHING AND THE SOMETHING SOMETHING (I only remember the first word of the title), so I decided I would do six miles a day, seven days a week, as a middle finger for writing that shitty book (IMO, 1Q84 is the last great – or even readable – thing Murakami wrote).

So long as I don't blow my back out again, I should be on track to get back to the six and continue my reign of spite-running two years after the herniation. Hopefully this will shut my doctors and father-in-law up about my weight gain over the last couple of years.