Ran into another runner, go figure

It's a truism in my life that God puts people in front of me right when I need them. Like on Saturday, when we had a neighborhood garage sale and I got to talk running with my neighbors.

On Tuesday, I played basketball at lunch, which is always a great workout. At least, my legs are always sore afterward. That evening, I was going to walk around the middle school track during son Jake's flag football practice to limit the pounding on my legs for the day. I didn't even complete two laps when I ran into Scott, a friend and former City Councilmember, who was dropping his son off at a different practice.

Scott, of course, is a runner. So we spent about a half hour talking running.

Scott mentioned he had just started running with the Vibram Five Finger shoes. "They're like gloves for your feet," Scott said. Wow. Not two days ago I read Michael Hyatt's blog about them (thanks for the tip, Maggie!) In fact, I had just put my hands on a pair at the REI store in Round Rock earlier in the day! Scott said they have taken some getting used to because you use your calves so much more running in them.

I've just started reading a book, Born to Run, that apparently extols the virtues of barefoot running. I'm happy to run in my Nike Frees for the time being, which are designed to replicate running barefoot. (They looking nothing like the shoes pictured above.) Here's the lead to the Amazon.com review that prompted me to buy the book: "Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong."

So I guess it's a good thing I don't know much about running. Hah. I'll share some of McDougall's insights along the way here. Looking like an interesting read so far.