Author Archives: Bruce

Running Shoes and the Appeal of Barefoot Running

I wear size 13’s in an Asian country where 10’s are usually the largest size. So I wore my size 13 Saucony down to the last fiber of rubber and darn wore them out. I loved these shoes and dreaded wearing new ones to break in, but knew I could hurt myself if didn’t wear shoes.

So I got the top of the line Nike Air Max Trail Wind 4, the elite of the cushy, comfy, shoes delivered via a friend fresh from the states. I loved them even if my toes did not feel the street like my old babies did. I kept telling myself how much I loved them every day until one day I said, no I do not love them. Wanting to feel my toes gripping the street was my immediate emotion.

So I put on my old shoes and have been wearing these old lovers every day since. I know that any day the soles will have holes, and then what? I was thinking on purchasing one of the barefoot running shoes and ask myself, are these for me? I fear them as a 57 year old runner and the Nike and Adidas and Saucony days in my youth which is so pertinent in my past. Also shoes have gotten better and better throughout the years.
So the question is to get lighter shoes, my Nike’s as a compromise, or take the barefoot plunge. Please send your experiences. Ah the evolution of our favorite hobby.

Running and Life’s Aggressions

I know a guy who I frequently have coffee with who is a 74 years old fellow and a total intellectual. He is a retired UN employee with some unfortunate past history. He hid as a child in Belgium from the Nazi’s. His family was dirt poor but he was a shining example of the Jewish culture, using education as a weapon after the war. So he did well and all was bright. But life is a state of mind and after a horrible marriage with a lying criminal wife who escaped to another country to avoid criminal prosecution and financial misgivings, this gentleman battled his past and considered himself a manic depressive.

This gentleman found a way to survive his financial woes with a small government check and a family member’s kind help. His health was above average and was still a handsome man who had no problem dating from time to time, getting into some romance once in a while.

But he was an aggressive man who could not get past his past misfortunes and his only balancing act was his very brisk daily walks. Sometimes he would walk twice a day to balance his extreme aggression and let his past be forgotten temporarily by the feeling of calm that this walks provided.

However, he had knee pains and one day had to stop his daily walks. Swimming was his only outlet but not as a regular drill due to logistics. So he gained weight and became very temperamental in less than a month after his knee problem.

So he lost his ability to stay calm. He almost came to blows with yours truly over nonsense and foolishness that i would have nothing of, except the obvious of possible self defense. I probably would not have fought back if not attacked as this is sheer immaturity. But it happened as this raging senior hit a security guard and now faces a court date unless it can be settled privately.

What is the point of all this? Well this is a running lifestyle site. We runners take our aggression out on the track and the road as well as on trails, and we gain prospective from our hobby and our sanity medicine from our chosen sport. Runners win their battles during their daily runs or in races. What we win is our health, our calm and our sanity in this crazy world.

So do not forget, even if we have injuries, we are runners and must maintain being one if we can. Get on that exercise bike or swim in the pool and whatever does not aggravate that injury to maintain some form of fitness that helps get rid of life’s aggressions. And being disciplined athletes, of course never let life’s mental challenges get the best of us. Now go out and kick some road ass!

Running With Imaginary Friends and Fantasy To Have Fun

A good friend of mine from yesteryears named Greg was a novice runner who used running as a way to beat his early teenage alcohol addiction. Greg was a brilliant journalism student at UCLA when we became roommates and friends and went on to write a New York Times best-selling book called Fat Land. When we ran together, it was at a pace where we could talk throughout the run. So on those slow run days in which I run solo which is mostly every day, I often think of Greg and even make pretend I am talking to him.

Then there is Dick, a brilliant businessman that looks and runs like an animal that when I feel like playing during the run, I think of Dick and beating on my chest as if he was there. And the list goes on of people I know and favorite race horses of mine that I imagine running next to me and at times I will even talk to these imaginary friends. Yes, I must look strange to others but who cares as everyone should have imaginary Friends.

College were some great years in my life as a runner. So I picture those wonderful years after a 5 to 10 mile run and breakfast with fellow runners after. I often buy small remembrances for my runs like my hipper bracelet of the past, just to have fun and remember what makes running so much fun.