Monday, April 4, 2011

My Rusty Conversion

I went to the local school track to test out my new Vibram FiverFingers KSO's.  I had never ran more than 2 miles in my life prior to this day!  Truthfully I wasnt sure how it would go. 
My first lap around the track was a difficult one!  Out of breath and not knowing where to place my feet...the whole concept was very akward for me...should I keep going?  Yes!  I was only able to make it around twice before I called it quits for the day.

Little did I know that those two laps lead to a life changing passion for long distance running.

I returned to the track everyday for close to two weeks, each time increasing the distance and speed.  I felt like a water faucet with rusty water in the pipes...If you run a faucet with dirty water for a period of time, what happens?  The water becomes clear after it runs its course.

I was so out of shape I simply needed to get the rust out of my blood stream, bones, muscles, lungss...everything!

By the end of the first week I was able to run a mile and a half!

I started to get board of the track.  I didnt like seeing the same thing over and over again...i felt like a hamster in a running wheel.  I needed a change.

One late evening I strapped on my KSO's, put in my ear buds, tuned my iPod to 'Metallica mix' and I ran out the front door.  What I thought was going to be a couple of laps arond the block turned into 8 miles!  I dont know where it came from but I had the desire to keep going!  My pipes were clean and i was flow'n!

I came home to a very worried wife (it was after midnight)!  "Where the hell were you!  I thought something happened."  I could barely hear anything she was saying...my earbuds were dangling from my neck and I could hear the sound of Metallica playing loudly...I was happy, confused, and confident.  What just happened?  How did I?  With a big smile I looked at Rach and said "I was running."  She had the look of disbeleif on her face...after looking closely at my sweat drenched body she realized that i was telling the truth.  She was just as excited for me.

The following day I returned to work smiling from ear to ear.  I could hardly make it up the stairs, I was so soar.  I couldnt wait to tell the 'runners' what I had just accomplished. 

what would happen next in this journey that I recently embarked on?
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How it all began

I have been working in the outdoor industry for the past several years and have a closet...make that a garage full of high end gear. Lifes obligations have made it difficult to get outside like I used to and use all the gear mentioned above. I wasnt mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, ETC like i was in the past...All my gear was just sitting there collecting dust! When the highly acclaimed VFF's hit the market I got a pair to add to said collection of gear. It came to a point that I was almost self concious about having so much un-attended gear. I feared that a serious runner would come to the store and ask about the shoes and I would have zero feeback for their 'sole' purpose... I didnt want to be that 'd-bag' that had everything but didnt use it. After recently losing 30+ lbs I strapped them on and began going to the local high school track...one lap around the track lead to a full 26.2 miles (eventually) I am NOT that d-bag....now!