Running in Circles

Greetings! We spent a super weekend in Knoxville, TN. One of our great problem solving activities included scheduling tourist visits and meals around the football game. Like in many other college towns, TN Volunteer fans get started early for tailgating and carry on the good times long after the game. This made downtown available to us only early in the morning and in the evening.

We managed quite well with visits to the Ijams Nature Center, the Museum of Appalachia and the American Museum of Science and Energy. Across the day we made a rectangle around the city. It all worked perfectly. The beginning of the day went extraordinarily well also. I set out for a run in the dark before dawn. The area around our hotel had a few cars on the road at that hour, and no sidewalks. The good news is I quickly happened upon Founder’s Park. 

The park had a little of everything- a putting green, benches, shaded picnic tables, volleyball, soccer, bleachers, a basketball goal, Frisbee golf, a horseshoe pit and a few resistance stations. In the middle of all these goodies was a gravel track. I loved the place, however, the track was only about a 440.  I’m not a huge fan of running circles over and over. 

The experience proved for a great option to reflect. There are many things in life that provide excellent opportunities, however, for me, it’s important not to get stuck in a rut of doing the exact same thing again and again. I relished the fact that we were off on a weekend get-a-way, rather than sitting around the house. Albeit in quarter mile circle, I was fortunate enough to be running at all, and particularly in a new place.

Run outside the circle.

Tom

http://ijams.org/

http://www.museumofappalachia.org 

http://amse.org/

Running Shoes as Casual Wear

Greetings! Earlier this year the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Metro Atlanta’s population expanded to 5.7 million residents. The number includes the 11 county metropolitan area, with Fulton county as the largest with 1 million people.

The Atlanta Track Club proudly stands as the second largest running organization in the United States with more than 26,000 members. The Track Club hosts over 30 races a year, including the world’s largest 10K with 65,000 participants. These numbers in light of the Sneakers exhibit, which was recently at the High Museum of Art, led me to think about the number of athletic shoes purchased. In the process, I learned athletic shoes have crossed over to the realm of casual wear and thus sales have increased yearly for over 15 years.

I haven’t tracked down exact numbers for units of athletic shoes sold or runners in GA, however, the southeastern region has over 7 million runners. This includes 8 states. Meanwhile

Some 45.1 million pairs of shoes were sold to support an over 70 BILLION dollar athletic shoe industry in U.S. I saw two numbers for the average shoe price, one at $66 and the other at $88.

That is a terrific amount of people spending a fair amount of money on athletic shoes not to actually be running, walking or working out in the footwear.

Spend Money Wisely. Run.

Tom

Running Can Be Risky Business

Greetings! Over the holiday weekend Shannan and I logged a lot of miles. One of the days I joined Shannan for a walk at Kennesaw Mountain Park. We walked at the base, up the mountain trail, down the paved roadway and a bit more around the base. It was a beautiful morning. The clear sky provided stunning views of the metropolitan Atlanta area from the mountain top. We have exercised at this location many times for well over ten years. In 2004, I was training for the Mount Marathon race up a mountain in Seward, Alaska.  As I’ve noted in previous posts, there is not really a good place to adequately train for that race, I didn’t know that beforehand.

Nonetheless, long after the race I continued to run up and down the mountain trail at Kennesaw. Many runners do the same. This weekend, as we ambled up over craggy rock out cropping and protruding tree roots. I reflected how dangerous it is to run on the trail. I mentioned it to Shannan. Then I really began to pay attention to the landscape. It is not ideal for running, particularly downhill. I recall being mindful of sharp turns, narrow pathways and jagged rocks while running. However, it was this moment of going slowly and deeply investigating the terrain that I recognized the many terrible possibilities that a single misstep or slip of the foot could bring. 

Shannan pointed out accidents can happen anytime walking or running. Perhaps I’m getting too old. I vowed in the future I would only run up hill, as if that is any less dangerous, and take the paved route down.

Run Carefully.

Tom