Once A Runner…

Starting Over… Is Live

Late this afternoon, I drove out to Fort Gordon and parked the truck at one end of Barton Field. I slipped out of the New Balance walking shoes I wore to drive there and into a new pair of Nike Free Run+ minimalist shoes. Then I fired up the Gymboss Interval Timer app on my iPhone and proceeded with the first of four weekly workouts from the ten-week schedule I outlined on my Starting Over… Baby Steps page.

This is the Run-Walk program I’m banking on getting me back to running well again soon. This was only the first day, to be sure, but I’m very optimistic after this.

It felt pretty good. Not great, but very good. The running intervals, though short, were long enough to settle into a reasonable rhythm. The walking intervals seemed a little long and had me urging them on so I could get to the next running interval.

The Nike Free Run+ shoes were pretty fantastic. Granted, I’ve spent a lot of time in more cushioned and structured shoes up to now, but just walking in them. The mostly packed red dirt track around Barton Field is a nice surface, fairly smooth with some loose, sandy places, but doesn’t present any of the more troublesome kinds of surface that would challenge the strength of my feet too soon for them to begin to reap the benefits of the minimalist shoes’ lightweight and flexibility.

This schedule will have me traveling to Fort Gordon Saturdays and Sundays. (That dirt track is big and wide and really well worth it, in my opinion.) But Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually work days and I’ll already be out there. So, I just change in the office, walk across the street and I’m practically on the dirt track, and that’s about as convenient as it gets.

I’m pretty psyched, and I’m looking forward to moving forward from here.