Panaramic Variety

As I run, I try to achieve as much variety as one human can in this part of the United States. Roads, trails, gravel roads, tracks, indoor tracks, hills, flats, snow, and on and on. These things are rarely skipped through a weeks worth of mileage right now. Of course as the snow melts, that aspect will be lost, but the budding tree's and warmer days will provide for a new and different type of variety. Variety, in my view, is as important as training itself. Without variety, a person can be very bland. And a bland runner is not a good runner. Variety can be included with shoes, surfaces, speed of running, amount of running, etc., etc...... Variety for the body sharpens muscles that would otherwise just be dormant and provides strength that is unmeasurable.

I am not against running on the roads, nor will I preach that running track races is bad for you. It is just, that I do not prefer that type of running. Lately, with the majority of miles ran on hard surfaces such as roads, my foot starts hurting, mainly the top and bottom muscle. The cause of this could be my road shoes, since my foot never hurts in anything else. None the less, running on soft surfaces feels really good right now. The extent of this nagging injury is unknown; people have been throwing the words plantar fasciitis around at me, not knowing what it was I researched it. I have no idea if that is what it is, but I am sure it will not be serious. My body has held up very well in the past and I would have a hard time accepting any detrimental injury.

All of this is coming in the midst of my best running/racing ever. Last Saturday I PR'd in the 5k at the Kent State Indoor Meet, going 15:18. I was very happy with the effort and feel confident that I will be able to go faster next time. I have also just completed my 5th week at 100+ miles. I have no intentions of backing off that amount either. With nearly a month break from racing coming up, I do not know the limit on the amount of running to come.

As for mt foot, I will be getting new shoes shortly and do some self remedy treatment to try and fix the hitch. I will soon be good as new! Until then, variety will still control my livelihood and the new season coming in will spark a new motivation.

WMO