Sweeeeet!

Clearly, a good sleep last night and Saturday's long run did some good - tonight's run was such a pleasure that I began composing this post on the move.
When the technique kicks in and te starts align, the gentle float of the correct barefoot technique is hypnotic and euphoric. I recall it used to be the same with shoes, but I seem to be able to find it easier with the fingens.

I slipped off the fingens and ran about 800m barefoot - tingly on the nice smooth path , but had to put the VFFs back on because the path got rough - they felt like old snug slippers going back on. I would've done more but for the path, but I'll save that for next time.
I find it astonishing and amusing that, after only a couple of months, my little pink softy foots, which have never touched the ground without a wince in my entire life, are now gliding along a path in the dark.........


The best part? VFF's are quiet, but the rear half of the shoe still makes a small noise when it touches down. Barefoot is totally, utterly silent. Tonight, on the path in suburban Perth, I saw a fox! Small, skinny and grey, but no doubt a fox, and I snuck up on him.

The run tonight was 7km (about 30 minutes), plus 10 x 80m spurts in the middle. A pretty light session, really.


I have a hunch that fuel may be a key to my running survival this year (just keeping up the program, that is, even before any useful performance). One thing I have never paid attention to is fuelling my body. I have always run like a demon, relied heavily on natural talent, but never quite broken through on the real tough stuff to meet the potential I seemed to have. So maybe I've always been letting myself down, just as it got out on the edge - as I went beyond a normal hard workout into an extraordinary performance?
All day today I've been feeling a bit hollow and hungry - me and the kid were late to her swimming class this morning, because we slept in, so I had a late and small breakfast, plus a kicker coffee. Lunch was a bit late, too, because I was engrossed in a machining job, then, after the new client, it was 8pm.
About 15 minutes before setting out, I ate a piece of bread with generous dobs of peanut butter and honey. My stomach felt a bit churny for the first 100m, but therafter I felt energised. I found the float again tonight that makes running, particularly this minimalist technique, especially envigorating. Maybe its the placebo effect, maybe not, but who cares? The long runs will tell the story.

Today I found myself explaining the notion of blogging to my work neighbour - a piano tuner and restorer (a dying trade perhaps, now that an iphone can do most of the job). He couldn't see the point in keeping a diary, especially a public one. I found it hard to explain, but I think a big driver for me is that it is an adult conversation (a little one-sided perhaps), which forces an immediacy, brevity and honesty. Living and working alone, this conversation may likely often be the only one for a day!

A good day, in fact, a grand day.