going with the flow.

Happy Monday! So I intended to post a few days ago with pictures of all of my favorite winter running equipment. I still intend to do that, however, unfortunately the past few days have been a bit interesting and I now no longer have a computer because our apartment was broken into. While I am angered and disappointed that someone went to the lengths of breaking into my home and stealing my stuff, as well as my roommates, there's really not much else to do but to go on (and have a glass of wine). So the cold weather gear post will have to wait, but it looks like we're getting more snow here so I think it will still be timely when I do post.

Saturday we went for a 14 mile run - the farthest I've ever run! And surprisingly enough, I felt great. Right about at mile 12 I was a little lethargic, but I picked up the pace and felt fine. The incredible thing is I wasn't sore the next day and I also had no achilles pain during or after the run. I drank my usual chocolate soy milk (so amazing) and did a fair amount of stretching afterward, as well as ate some pineapple. Things seem back to normal so keep your fingers crossed for me!

A good friend (thanks Paige!) sent me information about a webcast of a live Harvard discussion that happened last week and I was able to listen to it as it was broadcast. Harvard has created a group on campus called "Harvard on the Move" and for the kickoff they invited author of Born to Run, Christopher McDougall;  Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology and department chair of Human Evolutionary Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard; and John J. Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. They spoke about how the human body was built to run and run for long distances. Here's the link, if you're interested:  http://www.youtube.com/harvard#p/a/u/0/HxHhUhIXwHs

If you haven't read Born to Run, I would recommend it. It's not the best piece of literary work, however, it's non-fiction and has many interesting anecdotes about running and the people who run some of the longest races in the world. It's definitely entertaining if nothing else. Another great running book is one I recently finished, Once a Runner. This is more of a focus on short distances (one-mile and two-mile) but is an interesting fiction account of what it was like as a running in the 70's. I've always been fascinated by Prefontaine and this book definitely captured his spirit in it. I also recently watched two running movies: Saint Ralph and Without Limits (about Prefontaine). Can you see a theme?

Hope everyone has a great week - I failed to wake up on time this morning so I'll be running 4 miles tonight. I think it's supposed to be 17 degrees.

Have a good one!