ScottDickson.net

This movie looks really good.

Run to the East Trailer from Run to the East on Vimeo.

I love inspiring stories like this.

This looks like fun:

Across the Years Ultramarathon.

If you are a runner, you’ve probably heard of the recent trend towards barefoot or minimalist running. Much of the recent buzz about this comes from a book by Christopher McDougall called “Born To Run“. In his book McDougall argues that humans are naturally born to run, and that using running shoes makes us more prone to injury. The TED Talks series has one of McDougall speaking about humans and our natural ability to run.

While in the past couple of years I have struggled with injuries, I’m still on the fence about whether I want to try barefoot running. I may end up buying a pair of these and giving it a shot though.

10 Tips For Running In The Cold from Runner’s World.com: Good advice. Now stop making excuses and get out there and run!

The Runner’s World website has an interesting story over at the RW Challenge blog. They profiled a runner Douglas d’Adabie. He had a great quote from the piece that resonates with me.

“Training definitely made it easier to cope with one of the hardest times in my life,” he says. “In running, I had a purpose. I had something that I had control over, when so much else seemed to be beyond my influence. At times I’d feel guilty that I had a place to hide, but it kept me sane, and probably made me better able to cope with all of my other roles.”

For me, my struggle with PTSD was the darkest when I quit running. I eventually, got back on track with running and things got a lot better for me. Literally, I think that running was a lifesaver.

I was reading an article at the Runner’s World website on the reality TV show, The Biggest Loser. Normally, I don’t care much for reality TV shows, or TV in general for that matter but what I found interesting is this show pits overweight or obese contestants against each other to see who loses the most weight. One of the events contestants will go through is running a marathon.

There was an interesting bit in the article:

“Running is important in the contestants’ weight-loss journey, because it’s the most efficient way to burn calories,” says Robert Huizenga, M.D., the show’s medical expert, who helped craft its fitness-oriented methods. “That’s one reason we have the final four do a marathon. We want to encourage players to run as much as they can.” It works. A number of past contestants have competed in everything from 5-Ks to ultras, and in a marathon last fall, Mark Kruger, from Season 5, ran a 3:18 and was just three minutes shy of qualifying for Boston. “Running is the key to keeping my weight off,” says Kruger, 38, who was 285 pounds before appearing on the show in 2005. Now a chiseled 190, he adds, “I’m hooked. I’ll be a runner for life.”

I’ve been very fortunate that I have never been overweight. I do understand the struggles that many people have with weight loss. That being said, one of the benefits of running for me is that I don’t then have to be so careful with what I eat and can still maintain a healthy weight.

There are some advantages to putting in the miles.

One of my favorite times to run is early on a Saturday morning. I get up before dawn, eat a light breakfast and then head out the door before the sun comes up and while everything is still and quiet. On the weekends or other days that I can, I run on some rural roads near my home. It’s nice to be out amongst the cows, songbirds, sparrow hawks and deer early on a fall morning.

This morning was glorious. It was a bit humid so there was a touch of ground fog and haze. When I got out of my neighborhood and started up a hilly rural road going east, the sun was just starting to peek out over the horizon and lit up the haze on the horizon with brilliant orange-red color. As I continued to run, the sun climbed higher and the colors changed across the spectrum of red to orange to yellow with a depth of color that an artist could only hope to imitate.

The air was cool and brisk, a quality that is found in that opportune time in fall when it is cool but not yet cold. The dew covered all the grass of the fields and barbed wire of the fences and the sun glinted off it like diamonds. A solitary crow called in his raucous, hoarse cry from the top of a leafless tree.

I turned and headed down another road that passed by two farmer’s fields that had been planted with winter wheat. Off in the distance a herd of deer were making a meal of the tender green shoots that had pushed their way up through the tops of the furrows. The green of the wheat field in stark contrast with the fall-like browns of all the surrounding grasses.

My footfalls were sure and light, my legs felt strong, and my body in tune with that internal rhythm that comes when a runner finds the magical state when exertion and exhilaration are in perfect balance.

I thought of all the folks still in bed who were missing all this and realized how much richer I was for being out here.

Runner’s World magazine has a email list that sends you daily motivational quotes about running. A couple of days ago, the quote was this:

Thank God for running. It is the ultimate detox for me, whether my poison is bubbles, a foul mood, or a bad attitude. If I combat inertia, get out, and get moving, eventually every kind of toxin works its way out. – Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

I relate to the idea as running being a detox. My Saturday morning long runs work that way for me.