The Journey of A Thousand Miles

begins with a single step. 

And that is why I am going to sign up for the 4km Mother's Day Classic Run on Mother's Day this year.  Al is happy to take me and cheer me on while I am running.  While I realise that it is only a 4km race - I don't want to tackle anything too big to start with until I see how I go.

This morning I got up while everyone was still sleeping and went for a walk/run at 0.5km intervals.  My knee has been relatively pain free with only just a twinge today while I was running.  That was mainly because I had moved into the road to run rather than up and down a heap of pavements where we have some short blocks and the road had quite a steep camber - my right knee got really sore so I crossed back to the pavement and the pain went away.  My left knee twinged a little when I went from my first section of running back to walking but after that it was fine.  I can't tell you how happy I was when I got home - I had made it walking/running with better times than when I was running before I hurt my knee.  I think that Runkeeper is a little more reliable / accurate than the Nike pod that I was using previously.

The other week I went to The Athlete's Foot and was measured and fitted with shoes that do EXACTLY what I need them to do for the way that my feet roll.  While Nike have a great name - I have heard from too many different sources (plus my own experience) that their shoes are built for comfort and not for functionality.  And that is fine - I am just sorry that we spent $150 on shoes that really aren't suitable for running !!!

The Saucony's that I bought from TAF cost $240 and a couple of days later we saw them at DFO for $100  - Al wasn't in the least bit phased about that price difference - he says that we paid for the knowledge and information that we got from the lady at TAF.  She was really good and the next time we are down that way I am going to go back to the shop and tell them how they helped to get me on the road again.  He was so confident that they would do the job he bought a pair at $100 so I have a back up pair for when these give up the ghost.  While I would love them to last forever, I would also like to say "Hey, I ran so much I had to get another pair of shoes !!!!!!"

While I was never that fussed about having an iPhone, I just LOVE the apps that are available.  Now whether something similar was available on BB, I never found out.  I love that with Runkeeper, it does it all for me - tracks distance, speed, pace, route, calories burned - and gives me heaps of info that I can use to work out when I seem to get tired and when I am going well.  Al and I walked the dogs this afternoon and I used it to track how we walked.  When we got home I showed him the Runkeeper reports and he was amazed at the info that it gave me.  This is the type of tool that I find EXTREMELY motivating and is the sort of thing that will help me when I get home to put my shoes on and go for a run.  Especially now that Al is leaving again to go up to Townsville / Magnetic Island for 2-3 weeks as they have 8 sites to be installed.  I am going to miss him but hope to be able to rack up the kms while he is gone.  Need to make sure that K loads the songs I have chosen onto my phone as it was very boring walking/running this morning with no music !!

I am hoping that a side effect of the running will be some weight loss but if it isn't, that will be OK.  Right now it is about exercising and getting out there.

On that note - wishing everyone a very blessed Easter. 

TFTD : If you are capable of perceiving it, you are capable of living it - Bashar