justalittlesnarky

Anti-Niche= good at many things, not an expert at any of them but having a great time all the same.

justalittlesnarky - Anti-Niche= good at many things, not an expert at any of them but having a great time all the same.

Tag Archives: barefoot running

Run Snarky Run!!

27 02 07 - Running Shoes

Image by Cliph via Flickr

I’m sorry to say that this post will be all about running too. As you can tell from the title. If you are tired of my constant yammering on about running you may want to come back on Monday, because I am pretty sure that Sundays post will be all about the run. Again sorry about that.

If  you have wandered around my blog you will know that there was a point and time where I was trying to be a barefoot runner. I didn’t ever get to run a race barefoot, thanks to the knee. I did spend a full year wearing nothing but flat and thin flip-flops and shoes will no support at all. I still think that minimal shoes are the best for my feet that tend to have issues. If there is too much cushion my plantar faciitis gets all cranky, this is really a bad thing. It got to the point where I would have to tape my feet every time I ran. That got old pretty quickly.

I pulled out a pair of traditional running shoes today, just to see if I could wear them as casual shoes. The answer is no they have too much cushion in them and they make my plantar hurt just walking around shopping. It sucks because they were used very little before I stopped wearing shoes. The shoes I run in now are very light and flexible. They fall in to the minimal shoe category. there not as minimal as they could be but they are better the marshmallow shoes that make my feet hurt.

I would love to be a full-time barefoot runner but I am not sure that Is something that will happen for me, so I guess I will keep working with the minimal shoes to see where I end up when it is all done. I do like the strength that I have in my feet thanks to the barefootness.

If you are looking for more info on barefoot running you can check here:

http://barefootrunninguniversity.com

http://www.facebook.com/BarefootRunnersSociety

Thanks for sticking with me if you made it all the way to the end of this post. I am sure things will be back to randomness in a while.

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Well starting over again, for like the 10th time (4/17/10)

I am trying the whole I am a runner thing, again. This has been a long time coming, due to injuries and life I have not run in a very long time. I really want to run again but some how I don’t seem to have the drive to do it any more. At one point I had no problem getting up at 4:00 in the morning to go out for a “run” that was more of a shuffle that was slow and painful for me. At some point in the process I got better at it and I was able to run for more than 10 miles at a time. I was able to finish a half marathon, granted in was not so much of running the half, it was mostly walking due to you guessed it again…an injury. But some how I still want to get back out there and do it again. So, tonight DS and I started the process one more time. We walked a little over 3 miles, he runs cross country and track and they run this route so I wanted to give it a try. I have to say that the knee did ok, it still has not been diagnosed as to what it is, maybe a stress fracture or just issue with the tendons in the knee. Maybe some day I will know for sure what the deal is with it. But for now I am going to keep working up to running again, I am going to keep walking for now but hope to be back out there running. I am hoping to be able to finish Bay to Breakers with out dieing in about a month so I need to work up to 7.2 miles before the middle of May so wish me luck.

Goodnight! Sleep Well, Other Blogs of Mine

Not so long ago I posted that I was going to keep this to just a running/exercise blog and keep “Just a little snarky” for everything life related. But I have not been updating ANY of the blogs I have not even this one, with interesting running info. And the thought of having to post things at 4 other blog places is enough to make me run and hide, most days.  Which leads me to no blogging at all due to overwhelmness. 

So, as of today December 15, 2009 I have decided that I will have just 2 blogs. Two you ask? Well this one is for my personal stuff, all of my personal stuff running or just venting or what ever I feel like posting here. And the other one is for my new business that I started at ArtFire (you can click on the banner to the right to get to my store there) and the Youtube channel that I have for Fat Dragon Crafts.

So you have been put on notice that this will no longer just be about running it is my personal blog now.

I am close to a 1000 view at this blog may be I should do some sort of comment contest, I do seem to be lacking in those. Just an idea that I am kicking around. Leave a comment let me know if that would be something you are interested in.

Follow up to “Inadequate, pre-arthritic Knee”

I when home last night and got changed to head out to “winter training” in weather that can only be described as “cold as a huckabuck”. I was all set in my 2 layers of technical fabric that were all set to wick away the sweat as well as keep me some sort of warm at the same time. I seriously did think that there would be any sweat produced it was just that cold. I also had on a beanie, gloves and warm socks with my water shoes (that whole minimal/barefoot running thing). We here in the Bay Area like the fact that we have “moderate” weather all year; this was by far much colder. I know that if any of you who read this and live in a cold climate zone is just going to point and laugh at me but damnit I don’t like the cold. But I was going to run in it come hell or high water.

 So I kiss Dear Hubby as I head out the door into the cold and darkness to drive to the field by myself, because my running partner (Friend 1) backed out on me. There was sad face as well as mad face to be had about that one, but that is another post. I was determined that I was going to go even if it was by my self. As I try to pull in the lot I am faced with a line of cars coming out, there is only one way in and out (good planning on their part, not). As I was waiting for the cars to get the hell out of the way, I was starting to panic just a little. I knew there was high chance that there would be runners, real runners. And I was ok with that when there were going to be two of us fat non real runners, but it was just me. I had half a mind to just give up on getting in to the parking lot , go home and have a good cry ( I am sure that works off some calories from the sobbing? right?) but I didn’t. Again sad face was to be had.

 I finally, get in to the lot; at this point I am nearing panic stricken stage. That is the one right before you pee yourself and run off screaming like a loon, I think. I slowly make my way to through the lot to find a parking place; I want some where I can stay in the safety of my vehicle and watch who shows up for this thing, before I commit to getting out and joining or peeling out in the parking lot as I retreat. Well sure enough there is a spot right near where they were meeting. I WAS RIGHT THEY WERE REAL RUNNERS!! I may head it was a bit like Miss Piggy when she puts her hands on head and “runs” back and forth yelling, “AAAHHHHH”.  From what I could see there were 197 of them. Well ok that was a bit of an exaggeration maybe just a bit there were about 12 of them, but they were all runners, every last one of them.

 I just sat there waiting for the one, you know that other out of shape older person to show up, oh wait that was me and there was not another one coming. So there I sat in the car freezing my ass off trying to decide if I have the balls to get out of the car and join the group or just get the hell out of there. I picked option B after calling Friend 1 to make her feel bad for not coming with me and yelling about how I was never going back, I know really grown up of me. I drove home feeling defeated, by my own insecurities. If I have learned nothing from the 3+ years in the running world, it is that runners as a whole are some of the nicest most supportive people you will ever meet. They would have been more the happy to have me join the group; there was very little chance that they would have thrown rocks at me for not being as fast as the rest of them.

 But in my mind they were going to be mean to me, and make fun of me, point out the fact that I am fat and slow. I could not get out of there fast enough. Just a side note, cold and tears are not a good combo, just saying. I dove home totally humiliated, and disappointed in myself. Where did I leave my “balls”? I have always been outside the norms, but not last night. I guess being a middle aged fat chick has mad me soft. I don’t like that, not one bit. But what is done is done. Unless that design for the time machine gets the kinks worked out soon, I will not be able to go back and do thing differently.

 So the question is what now?

 ***On a related subject I didn’t go home and cry. I was dressed or a run so that is what I did I ran for about 30 min up and down my street, running from one light pole to the next , walking to the next set and so on. It was cold and pretty awesome. I will go out again Thursday night, because I don’t have “winter conditioning”, because I AM NOT GOING BACK…EVER!!!!!!

"Inadequate-pre-arthritic Knee" or Winter Tranining

So, tonight starts “Winter Training” for the adults of Cross Country children at the High School, and other adults who want to join. I am really scared about doing this; there will be real runners there. You know the ones who look like runners, fast runners at that. I do not look like a real runner or any sort of runner, nor is there any way to mistake me for fast. The coach always is supportive of the kids and I am sure there will be no making fun of me to my face (behind my back is ok just so I can’t hear it, deal?!)

I have had nothing but injuries while running/exercising, they range from small ones to ones that put me in a walking boot for 5 weeks. That one made me want to chop the foot off, it hurt so bad some days.

I don’t want to have anymore injuries, but I need to do something about my unhealthy way I have been living and it is good for me mentally as well. When I came off my fist set of injuries, I wanted to start running in minimalist shoes or barefoot. There is a whole trend leaning towards “less is more” in the running world. Well that didn’t go so good when I started out and ended up in a boot (not that the running barefoot put me in a boot, it is that the running stopped all together, when I end up in a boot, from getting DH out of bed wrong for over a year, but that is another story).

I have not had the motivations to do much in the away of exercise in a very long time. I was riding a bike for almost 2 weeks; I need to try doing that again. I have put back on all the weight that I dropped the year before plus some, so that is really not good. And dear god there is no way that I even sorta like the way I look in pictures these days, and the video that I want to do to enter a contest on YouTube. Can you say “Bring me Solo and the Wookiee” (sorry Star Wars reference) sheesh!

 With all that you would think that it would motivate the hell out of me to do something about it. Well damnit is has not, thank you very much! So here I sit with my pre-arthritic knee giving me grief because it is cold as a “witched tit” outside and it doesn’t seem to like it very much, wondering if I can use this knee as an excuse to get out of going. I could it would be a… weak… real reason not to go, right?

 So far most of me including the knee would like to just go home and hid, not go out in the cold to night to be with people who are better… runners. I don’t want to get hurt again. I don’t want to be unhealthy and sitting on my fat ass not doing anything to change that. There is a small part, the part that remembers the first time it ran to the end of the street with out having to walk, and then around the block with out stopping and then it was 3 miles and 5 miles, it is the part of me that finished a half marathon 13.3 miles with two bum feet. That part wants to run again, that part wants to go stand in the cold with strangers and see it’s breath by the lights of the stadium. It wants to run again. To feel the endorphins kick in at some point, the feeling of accomplished something that others don’t do.

 In order to let it run again I have to take the first step. To get out there tonight, knee brace and all, to not be afraid of it all and just do my best with what I am working with. Will there be faster stronger and better fit people there? Sure, there may be but there will be only one of me and I need to be the best me I can be tonight. Mostly I need to get out there and shut the hell up and start running again. So I guess to night I get to go freeze and feel all inadequate but at least I will be out there right? Right that is the important thing here?

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