The Shoe Story

I use this pretty amazing little app - Goals 100% or something. Its in Chinese/English. Its not the best of apps, but it lets me do one simple, yet VITAL thing - mark each day of the week, if I had gone or not.

This alone is a good enough motivation for me to wake up in the morning and hit to road. Additionally I love putting on my Lotto Andromeda shoes (you wouldn't believe the amount of research I did to finally land up a pair that is perfect and it cost 2300 bucks only!).

Which brings me to the tools of this trade -

Jogging is all about SHOES, SHOES and some more SHOES.

No. You dont have to buy piles upon piles of them, but you MUST make an effort to buy the right shoes. Make sure it has enough cushioning. How do you tell? Well your HEEL feels pampered. Not like an army boot where it takes a beating. ANKLE SUPPORT is another thing I look forward to.

But then, its quite interesting to know the perfect shoe TYPE for you. Yes there are shoe types!!! Its not that you put on a pair of Bata PT shoes and off you go. You can, but then....not for long, before you land up with some injury. I landed up with ankle injuries wearing a FILA (i was going for the style and low budget 1200 bucks). It had style but no cushion. So my ankles took a beating and what I fear, some ligamen must have really taken it bad. Anyways, never CHEAP OUT on your shoes. Keep a budget of Rs. 2500 and go ONLINE. I got mine from flipkart. No sense going to shoe stores nowadays.

So first do a bit of google to find out the right type of shoes for you based on your running type and foot shape (yes, check out that first post on this blog). I checked my sole shape. Its simple. Just wet your feet and stand on a newspaper. It will have your print. (For those with religious sentiments on standing on paper, .....stand on a piece of cloth and take a quick pic).

Anyway I will leave the rest of the research to you ....because its FUN!! :)

I Went

It was not the most ideal of all runs, meaning I did not wake up at 5 and hit the road when even the dogs were asleep, but I did wake up and hit the road. That counts. The sun was up in its childhood and people were stepping out of their houses, yawning and scratching their asses. But I went. There was a good looking aunty and some good short runs. Best part I ticked off two days in this week. Tomorrow is another and the next on Friday. It looks like a 4 day run week:)

Getting back with a bang

As I am figuring out, most of daily exercising is getting back up. Keeping a daily record is a big high. But also when you see 5 red marks in a week it motivates you to set the record straight.

Anyway, I figured out that I have been able to run longer if I have some good music playing on my phone. If I don't then my mind focuses on getting over with it somehow. If I jog, then it focuses on when will I reach the next bend in the road and stop.

Putting the music keeps the mind occupied and I just feel the breeze as I jog. And also the awareness of the increased ease with which I can jog is a definite high!!

It helps too when there are some good looking chicks around in tight slacks ;). Keeps the blood pumping good!

I did two days of jogging and took a break today. Now I am looking forward to waking up tomorrow and meet this new jogging buddy I discovered - myself. :)

The first rays are mine, and mine alone

The reason I love an early morning jog is because I feel the world is mine.

The key word here is EARLY.

It's that time of the day when the world is asleep while the sun rises politely, the virgin wind blows lustily and the birds just start to chirp.

Everything is mine.

I don't share it with another human being. I get my space. I can be with them and not worry about a thousand subconscious checks that our mind does when we are in a society.

Today I went for my jog at 6:15 am and the world was there with their dogs and grandmothers. The sun was no longer polite but brazenly on my face! The wind was still seductive.

Tomorrow I am going to go at 5:30am. 

The down days

I think this was why this blog was created - to record those days when I have not been disciplined enough and have lost a few days without my jog. And then start thinking about the jog, blog about it, read about it, check out some dream shoes and get back the excitement to start out again.

I have downloaded this cool app - Goals 100% or something - which let's you track the days you have been practising something and I am using it to records my jogs. If I don't update it, by default, it marks a red. So that's a big high - to mark it after a jog and check the number of greens in a week. Last week it was 3. Before that, it had been 2 for a couple of weeks. The target is to have 4 or more consistently.

The only way is being fanatical about waking up at 6am. Because for me, thats the key. Evenings don't happen except for Sundays. Like today.

OK then, time to get dressed. Happy jogging!

Running Diary- 20 Apr 2014

In college, I always looked at the guys with deep admiration and a pinch of envy as they gobbled up rounds after rounds of the football field while I huffed and puffed my near-dead body across the 100m mark.
By the time I left college I did get my stamina to afford me three rounds of the football field and had lost the kilos to a respectable 80kgs.

But then I got a job and money in the bank was never a good idea for anyone who loved to eat. Add to that, I had started smoking religiously. And it was 10 years before I mustered enough courage to jog. I was back to doing 50m before I prayed the Lord for oxygen.

But I still had the dream that I too shall run like My Kingdom has, indeed, come and be a non smoker for life.

With this thought I had started walking and stuck to doing 30mins on most days (driven by the fact that I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels).

Pretty soon I was walking 4 kms daily with ease. And from the past couple of days I have started doing a bit of jogging between my daily walks. And I can see that my jogging length has been increasing.

I can tell you that there is no greater pleasure than the high I get every time I click a check mark on my calendar after completing a walk-jog.

With the Lords help I have also stopped smoking and trust him to support me when the craving strikes and the mind gives reason to have "just one" smoke.

Amen.

Walk before you run, stand before you walk