Running Good For Your Knees!!

In an article I read today I was thrilled to see that science is proving wrong the warning that somehow knees will become injured because of over use and wear and tear.  Knees isn fact through the studies cited were giving the opposite, that it will make ones knees stronger and keep them limber. 

Personally since losing weight I have had no problems with my knees, only injury to my hips, buttocks and ITB.  All not permanent.  I have had less foot pain as well, since I carry less weight around for my feet to carry.

Does this ring true to you runners out there? 

CAFFEINE FREE CHAD

I'm off Coffee.That's right.  I'm off.  I have never had an attempt to go off caffeine be so paiinful before.  What is prompting it?  Well, I am giving it up for personal reasons, but I am definately realizing the grip it had on me.  I had a headache for 4 daysof the last week.  I have been yawning uncontrollably throughout my work day.  Making Sentances Sucks.  And then there are my runs.  Even my runs are feeling it.  My energy level is stabilizing, but I know my energy has been low for the last week.

I have been going a tad overboard on coffee for along while.  two Venti sized strong coffees before even showing up for work, then a few more to get me through the day.  I rely on it to get myself amped up for the presentations I do for classes.  I teach drug and alcohol awareness.  People get the caffinated me.  Well the last week they have suffered through the Ferris Bueller teacher me "Bueller....Bueller." 

I am resetting my body.  I am hoping to make it through the next while without.  My brain is not pounding anymore and I feel much much less anxious about things.

Runs, I am hoping will be improved with time off the caffeine.  Morning runs will be more difficult, but I will make it work for now.  Anyone else drink too much of a great thing?

Cougar Too Close To Home!

What was I doingat 6 am on Thursday last week?  I was running.  Just finishing a run, actually, rounding the last bit of my short run.  What was a cougar doing right near where I was running?  KILLING a deer!  I am talking probably 100 feet from me.  The weird thing is that I had talked about the cougar later at about 630 am about were it might be, what they eat etc.  YIKES!  Little did I know how close that cat was to me. My moms firend spotted it right below her house.  I still think it probably wouldn't attack me as a running, but would that be just the way it goes to have me be the first one?  I am glad the days are getting longer so Ican keep running in the mornings.

Olympic Fever!

The Olympiansof the 2010 games have hooked me on an emotional rollercoaster!  I think it is partly due to my own involvment in  long distance sport.  Speed skating for example at the 5000 meter length, I actually relate now to the anticipation, staying in the moment and of all the training required for this calibre of sport.  I am glued!!!  CBC has done a terrific job of broadcasting a very personal story of these games.

I have found myself for  the first time in my life welling up with tears as athletes a rewarded or disappointed.  I think of Kristi Richards from Summerland BC, a place I work in, who fell during the women's moguls.  Or our Euphoric first gold for our Men's mogul event from Alexandre Bilodeau.  I feel so anxious watching the short track speed skating, where one slip, as the Korean atheletes went through on the last stretch took them out of contending for the podium.

I relate to the jitters they must have to fight, the elements of the day which may throw their time, their psyche off, such as the tragedy of the luge accident in which   Nodar Kumaritashvili lost his life.  Or the swift change in weather, which is a day to day, moment to moment thing winter athletes must contend with anywhere in the world.  This is where all that hard training, the commitment comes down to the moment, the last second decisions and the instinct ingrained int hose who must up their ante like never before to strive to be better.

How inspiring!  How thrilling!  I officially an Olympic sucker.  Go Team Canada!

No Magic, Just Run, let it Become What It Will Today

Running first thingthis morning, without music in the pitch black, I realized that as many things, my reasons for this morning's run has changed, and has been changing.  In fact, the reasons either grow or they shift over the time since I started.  Today, I ran 10 k(ish) and it was slow.  My mind drifted to family issues, work stuff, my body, praying about nothing, and music was running through my head.  By km 5, I made a realization.  I was running for different reasons than I use to.  Perhaps its that it has become less an option, more of a staple, but my run was purely for getting ready for my day today.  Like washing or brushing my teeth or eating.  

This has little to do with bigger goals, we all need those and they stay pretty consistent day to day, but it was more about the immediate reason to get out of bed, to put on my gear and get out the door.  Today was not my greatest run, I ran it in just under an hour, which is deadly slow.  I have a feeling it is my asthma from a dog I was around that triggered my chest to be irritated.  Slow going.  But the run was solid.  

This was not a throw away run.  It was what it was, and that was just fine with me.