The best run

Yesterday I went jogging again. For the past couple of weeks I've been getting sore feet as I run. I wondered whether my shoes were getting too old, or my feet were getting too old. Hoping for the former, I bought a new pair of runners and found that they made a big difference.

I am training to do a half marathon (13 miles/21 km) in April with my friend Eric. We've agreed to run together on Tuesdays, and having that commitment to run is a good discipline. I looked out the window yesterday, saw it snowing, saw the temperature was 20 farenheit, and hoped that Eric would call to chicken out. But he didn't, so we ran.

It turned out to be the best run I've done since the Christmas break. There were big, chunky snowflakes falling (it seems that the colder the temp, the bigger the flakes). There was no wind, so they just fell gently down. And there was an inch of snow on the path, which made it soft to run on, and much better that the either ice or slush which there has been of late, especially along the lakefront path where we run. We did 7 miles at a gentle enough pace to be able to hold down a good conversation all the way. We'll have to increase both miles and speed soon, but for now, it was just great to be able to enjoy the run and the day.

Pictured is the shore of Lake Michigan, which doesn't freeze all the way across (its the size of Tasmania) but does freeze for half a mile off the shore.