It’s Probably the Shoes

I went for my first run in New York today. It was a cool sixty-four degrees, so I threw on a sweatshirt, tried to touch my toes, and headed out. Before I did so I went to Mapmyrun.com to plan the course: A nice loop just over 5K.

My first mile, I had a nice spring in my step, felt good, almost got hit by a (short) school bus, and finished under seven minutes.
My second mile didn’t feel as good.

My throat dried out from my heavy breathing, and my form went from something resembling a young Ben Sheldon or Chris Wiegand, to an old Jack Harahan running up the hill at Ridley Creek State Park. I was dyin’.

The beginning of mile three is through the center of Mount Kisco’s downtown business district. The traffic and large reflective shop windows kept my form looking more like it did in my days as “Pre” but my pace was slowing with each step.

The loop ended up taking me twenty-six minutes (8:25 per mile pace)after re-measuring the course it was closer to about 3.16 miles instead of simply 3.1, so that would explain my slow time.

I got back into running a bit this summer and had a few 5k’s under twenty minutes, so I can only blame this performance on the New York air quality, or the eleven weeks I have gone without running, or all the beer, or, well, my shoes are getting pretty old, too.

It’s probably the shoes.

Proper equipment is crucial to success.

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Jacqui brought home an analog scale from Target today. According to the scale it read: Jon, you have to keep running, or you'll soon die of obesity.