You gotta start somewhere

I'm the worst runner in the world. But you gotta start somewhere.

I've decided to try running again (I try it every now and then) because it's quick exercise. A little seems to go a long way. You can lose weight pretty easily by running. I'm pretty fat since the PCT.

I'd also like to do it because I liked how it felt on the PCT to be so strong and powerful that I could walk 35 miles in a single day and get up the next day and be able to do it again. I figure that, no longer as rich in time as I was on the trail, the best way to have that feeling again is to be able to get those miles in in a shorter period of time. The only way to do that is to run.

I'd also like to run in the 40 mile endurance run in the fall that starts at Red Rock and goes to Romero Trail and back.

So, I went running today. I wore my aqua socks. Aqua socks are really hot, so I cut off some of the neoprene and sewed in some mesh that I cut out of a jacket I found lying in the dirt on my way home from work. It seemed to help. I like running in the aqua socks because it seems easier for some reason. It's quiet, too. I seem to be able to go further than I can in normal running shoes.

I want to be able to run far and well like real runners do. I saw a movie trailer the other day on youtube of a long-distance runner who looks like a thru-hiker. He makes it look so effortless. He usually runs 28 miles every day. I tried to imagine myself running like him.

Before I knew it, I had run from my house on the West Side, over to Alamar, up to Foothill and down the trail in Rocky Nook Park. That was a pretty long distance. Other times when I've been in really good shape I've never run that far. I figure I'm off to a good start.

What made me think I'm the worst runner on the planet though was when I was running on Alamar there was a chubby Mexican lady running in her jeans and sandals with her two pre-school-aged little girls. They'd stop running and I'd slowly catch up, then they'd start running again and they'd break away. I can't even keep up with pre-school kids!

Well, you have to start somewhere.