I have been an avid runner since I was 14 and ran cross-country and middle distance track in high school.   After running at 4:00 each morning in the Army, I ran CC for my intramural college team (Fifth Year Freshman), coming in second once after an all night bender of cheap beer, video games, a mascot head, and ladies of questionable character/morality.

I just picked up a new pair of trail shoes and inserts after noticing my old pair had started to fall apart – my big toe sticking out when the side stitching blew was a dead give away.  The purchase has me in a reflective mood.  Running is for my soul, to keep the pounds that I would add from the constant cookie consumption at bay (I can tear through a box of Somoas/Do-Si-Dos faster than a fat kid at Summer Camp…), to have time to think through things, to enjoy trails, and to make me a better climber and cyclist.  I don’t enter every 5 or 10K that comes along as I am slow and lazy.  It has to be either a really cool event or be held in an amazing place for me to get up the initiative to actually participate.  I have run one Marathon, years ago – probably the last one I will ever do:  over trained, lost too much weight, had horrible shin splints, and was sick for two weeks afterward.  I will stick to 3-5 mile runs, 2-4 times a week and maybe throw in a 10-12 miler here and there to keep it interesting.

Running is the one constant activity I do that only costs me a pair of shoes every six months or so.  I can wear the kicks when not on a trail and just bumming around the yard or if out and about.  Cycling and climbing shoes are neither fashionable nor functional while out on the town.  I can run from home, on work trips, while visiting the in-laws, etc…  There is a lot of running done when the in-laws are in town…  I always plan to run on vacations, but find that my trail shoes are the one thing that doesn’t come out of my bag until I return home.  Running helps keep me sane.