Another gift from running

I'm back in the U.S., staying with my friend, Judy, at her lovely Chesterbrook townhouse. I ran this morning for a half hour on a paved path that lead through woods, along, and across a river. It was lovely.

Today's realization is that the many hours spent in the gym warming up on the cross trainer, stretching on the mat, and running on the treadmill are over. I'm going to return to doing what I've enjoyed since I was 10--running outside.

While I think it was necessary to do gym-based foundational work to support a running habit, it is very likely to have done almost as much harm as good.

When you run on a treadmill, you are watching metrics showing how many minutes per mile, how many miles per hour, how far you have run, how many calories you have burned, and what your heart rate is. For a competitive person like myself, this is bait. And I will always run harder than I should. And that means I will injure something.

Today I ran through the woods for a half hour with no pain. I didn't run fast, but I also didn't spend a half hour doing stretches and stengthening exercises. I'm hoping the foundation is laid and I can keep running outside without injury. David bought me a book for Christmas called Yoga for Runners. I'll read that and incorporate yoga as insurance against injury, but I'm done with my gym-based running regimen. Hallelujah!