So I’m beginning to wonder if maybe it’s not the shoes.
My running has been somewhat sporadic lately. I think some of it is just monthly burnout, some of it is work-related stress, and some of it is, well something else I just can’t put my finger on.
I got in my scheduled six today. It should have been a run about which I’d gush – beautiful day; warm, with a cool breeze blowing off the bay. The classic experience of rounding the point behind the NAPS building as a pair of sailboats come about, spinnakers ballooning in front of them to parallel me on the leg down to the wooden bridge. But I ended up feeling just “eh”.
Now, my left foot is acting up again. Some of it, I think, is that I slacked over the weekend. But part of me is starting to think that maybe I actually damaged something with the New Balances. I’m going to gut it out through a long run on Saturday, but if it’s still hurting Sunday, I may have to break out the bike during the week for the forseeable future, saving my foot for long runs. Darn the bad luck.
On a happier note, my run last Thursday was quite possibly the finest run ever. I extended even further the “hilly” version of my route on Jamestown Island, and dialed up the podcast from Open Source on Numbers. The sun shone, the breeze blew, and the thoughts of Chris Lydon and (be still my heart!) Douglas Hofstadter beat down on my ears.
If you’re looking for a big, thick book to stick in your bookbag to drag around and gain all sorts of intellectual whuffie, Hofstadter’s Godel, Escher, Bach – Eternal Golden Braid takes the cake. For an even bigger kick, actually break open the beast and read it. I don’t claim to understand half of what was in it, but it’s breathtaking. The deeper the ideas got, the quicker I ran. Great topic (at least for me), great guests, and a discernible chemistry between all involved.