new good things

After reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (which is a really great read, whether you like running or not, but probably especially if you like running), I decided to cave and buy some Vibram FiveFingers shoes.  McDougall makes a really convincing (to me) argument that humans evolved to run mid-to-long distances, and they did it without all the fancy footwear we have today.  In fact, he presents a lot of scientific studies and statistics suggesting that running shoes tend to encourage bad running form, which ultimately results in more running related injuries.  The idea is that running shoes are so padded that you can run in them however you want and not feel the impact you should be feeling from your terrible form, so your biomechanics are sloppy and unnatural and it's bad on your body.

Anyway, I just picked these up at Any Mountain in Berkeley:

Vibram FiveFingers Bikila, the new model designed for running.

I know, they're totally goofy looking, but you know what?  They feel really good on my feet!  I've always loved walking around barefoot, and my favorite piece of footwear has long been a pair of flip flops, so it makes sense I would like these.  I'm planning to walk around in them for a week or so, play some frisbee in them and see how it goes, and then maybe I'll take them for a few quick spins around the block.  You're supposed to ease in to barefoot running very slowly, so I'll probably just add a few little one mile jaunts in these puppies to my normal mileage and see what happens.

Which brings me to another new good thing: we're playing frisbee at 3:00 today!!  Yay!  Lots of people said they're coming, and it'll be so fun to play again!  And the sun just came out, practically on cue for our game, so I'm getting really antsy and ready to run around!

In other New and Good news, our annual department meeting is tomorrow, classes are starting on Thursday, all of my friends are getting back into town so people are having "welcome back" get togethers, and I'm probably playing and singing at the Starry Plough open mic on Tuesday night with some friends.  This is a great week, and it's only Sunday!