Keep the feet moving!

The river, I admit, is very attractive. Cross-roads every morning on short runs. Do I turn right and plod through traffic and enter the University campus in 10 minutes time? Or, do I turn left, pass the temple, run over the (smelly) river and loop around watching the commando troops, the canine gang, and the old people (and occasionally, my friend ludwig). Today I chose the river. My smelly neighborhood water body, hatcher of mosquito eggs, receptacle of trash, black as the night.

The bikila blister is a bit, how do I say it, colourful? There is a standard life-cycle of blisters in my feet (& legs & thumb too, one time each, in the recent past). I have tried to break that life-cycle with interventions with dettol, savlon, specialised band-aids, calendula nectar, betadine, and, more recently, gentian violet. I don't think it matters. It goes on to putrid-ness and when I ply myself with anti-biotics, in fear of full-body-sepsis (or whatever other gory denouement), it dries and scabs, and bleeds again one last time, and finally disappears, leaving behind angry scars as a reminder, sometimes.

"Do I feel faster in them?" No, I don't think so. I ran my usual short-run route, stopping myself from 'sprinting home' - which is not on the cards till next week, or thereabouts. They do feel good though. Since I killed my ipod on Sunday's long run, it was just me, my feet, and my vibrams today. As I was getting ready, I remember being excited, 'don't need socks! yes!' They are quiet. None of the heavy clomping. But today I discover that my tread is uneven. Hmm. Revelation.

I try to be as ambidextrous as I can. Does anyone remember a person called Dusty Fog? From way back when I used to read 'Western novels' as they were called. The standard Louis L'Amour and also an author referred to as J.T.Edson, I believe. Dusty Fog was a short guy who had the fastest trigger in all the west, and with both hands at that. So, I try to breathe every three strokes when I swim, coming up on alternate sides. As a rule. Not that I breathe or swim well (yet), but its the idea. I try to write with my left hand, periodically. I did used to take off on my left leg for the long jump, and also, for the sprint starts. But that was then. I even run loops in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions now when I am in the oval stadium.

But my right foot plods and is more noisy than my left. My heel strike tendency is more on the right. My left foot has the blister so today things were a bit even. Pain and discomfort on both sides! Oh yes! Bring it! Yes, after 7 running miles of them, I am still loving them. My calves are a bit tight. I felt my toes a bit more today than the last time. One time, I stepped on the sharp end of a stone but my first thought was not 'ooh pain' but 'oh! hope that didn't spring a hole in my beautiful blue shoe'

In summary? A quiet neighborhood run, 4 miles (ish), people still giving my nose that intense stare (you crazy woman, types), bounciness at bay, loved the quietness & the philosophical musing possibility thus afforded, smell not too bad yet, fit is fine, loving it...