Re-inspired Road Running

No worries folks! I'm not giving up trail running. After too long of a time, I finally had a day of non-trail running that felt good, no not just good, good with a side of awesome sauce!

This morning my new awesome running buddy, Laura, informed me that she could get together for a run today. We decided on the Gastonia Greenway since we both needed a nice flat run to let our bodies recover a bit more from our races this past weekend.

I arrived a little early so I decided to get my 1 mile barefoot run out of the way. This was my first day of going a full mile barefoot. So far the bare-footing is going well. The skin on the balls of my feet are starting to feel tender but other than that I've not had any other common barefoot newbie complaints. I'm taking it nice and slow with adding distance in hopes to avoid too many of the usual newbie problems. I'm noticing that it is becoming more natural to use my new shorter stride with mid-foot strike both barefoot and shod. I still do a check every now and then but it's not every stride like a few weeks ago. I made it back to the car a few minutes before Laura arrived, perfect timing!

We had a great run. Lots of talking. I told her of my woes from my run with my other running partners last week. There were some conversations that frustrated me. It was good to get that off my chest and for her to understand how I felt. I'm glad she didn't think I was nuts and decide to take off running in the other direction. Maybe she didn't run away because she knew I could keep up with her? Hmmm...

Speaking of keeping up with her, I loved that I was running with someone that I felt like I could keep an even pace with. I've gotten so used to running at the greenway with runners that I always have to keep my pace in check for them. It was nice to feel my legs and feet turning over at a higher rate and to feel my breathing really get into a good rhythm. I'm not going to call it a hard run but it wasn't the easy that I've been doing. The easy I've been doing with the other girls is too easy. I can chat up a storm when I run with them. With Laura I can chat but I've got to pause in my speaking long enough to breath. We held a good pace, 9:20 min/mi average. It felt awesome to get to do that kind of effort on "roads" again. I hope we can get our schedules to match up every now and then so we can crank out some good miles at that pace. I'm also hoping she can hit the trail with me this weekend, too.

It was great to enjoy "road" running again today. I have to thank Laura for that. I don't know that I would have had such a smooth run by myself at the greenway. In the past I've always thought of myself as a solo runner but slowly I am learning that running buddies can really add some inspiration to your routine. So a big thanks to all my running buddies, you all inspire me in some way. I hate playing favorites but I'm about to. Kay and Laura have given me the most inspiration lately to push myself and to encourage me to be the best runner I can be. I'm so grateful to have both of them as friends and running buddies. (I feel a group hug coming on.)