It's just weird.

 
July 31 my friend L told me she was going to run in a 3-mile "mini marathon" August 15th, her first race. She thought it would be great if I could come along. I've always wanted to run... just today it occurred to me that about 10 years ago in a casual conversation I asked my dad if he thought, if I started "training" "today," if he thought I could run a marathon in a year. Ten years ago.

Well, running fever proved contagious, and I told L that I'd start the very next day, with the goal of running with her in two weeks.

August first I began. August first I remembered my knees sometimes give me trouble, especially the right one. Began taking naproxen. Ran cautiously. Ran in my old (ancient) New Balance sneakers. Ran every day.

Yesterday I bought a new pair of running shoes, also New Balance. They are comfortable. They were expensive, but not unreasonably so. They prove to me that I'm going to continue running.

Yesterday I ran in my new running shoes.

Today I read an article about the new trend, "barefoot running." I'm a barefooter from way back, and one thing that really caught my eye (in the article) was the statement that "barefoot running teaches you to run on your toes or the front of your foot instead of the heel." (paraphrased). I've always run on my toes. Today I ran barefoot.