Barefoot Running?

No, I’m not racing out to the park without shoes, although I run around barefoot in the apartment all the time. But recently, the New York Times ran an article on barefoot running, “The Once and Future Way to Run, ” which included a video of two exercises to help you run barefoot. (For the video, you click on the picture at the top of the article.) They immediately clicked for me. For one thing, they were a lot like the exercises I thought up for myself after I finished PT. Then, later in the article, the author references a barefoot running system called the Pose Method. So I looked up that on YouTube.  I really liked the exercises, and I have started doing some of them to help strengthen my mid-foot.

Mind you, I am already running barefoot on the mat, and I don’t intend to start barefoot running in Central Park. And I’m not suggesting everyone with a Lisfranc injury start doing them! My physical therapist had lots of tortuous exercises for me to do. But I am interested in getting my foot stronger than it was before the injury, so for me, they seemed just perfect.

I’ll see if I keep doing them, and if they seem to have a good effect.

A Lovely Day in the Park

Actually, it’s been a few nice days. First, I made my latest goal…jogging 9 minutes, walking 1 for an hour. I was painfully slow, but I had some extra at the end for a little sprint, so that was good. I have to keep reminding myself that the reason I started running was so that I could run for a bus, not so I could run a marathon (or a 5K). But now, running for the bus isn’t something I even think about. It’s just normal.

Then, yesterday I went to do my bike ride around the park. It was a beautiful day…there are actually some fall colors, and the elms were a lovely golden yellow. How often do you get to see a whole stand of elms these days? Sadly, there were a lot of crews out taking down trees that were damaged in the snowstorm. Not the elms, though.

Taking Down a Tree

A few more pictures to come. It was interesting to watch how the men were so comfortable walking around on tree limbs.

I actually got up the hill at the north end without stopping, and up the next one, too. So I didn’t stop to take pictures because I wanted to see how far I could go. Then I got to the marathon finish area and had to stop, because they were taking down the finish line. We had to detour. So then I took pictures.

What I hadn’t realized was how many people return to the scene of the crime the next day. The west drive was crowded with people walking back to the finish line, wearing their medals, to take the picture they couldn’t take the day before. Everyone was in a great mood, congratulating each other, so it was really fun to weave through them.

Then, as I approached the home stretch, who should I see but Zoe Koplowitz entering the park with her escort of Guardian Angels. Mind you, this is the day after the marathon! Zoe has multiple sclerosis but does the marathon every year, on crutches. This year, it took her 30 plus hours. I decided that I wanted to see her finish, so I rode around the north end (cutting off the big hill this time) to get the point where she would enter the park again, hung out with some Guardian Angels for a while, till she appeared, and we all walked up to the finish line, picking up people and photographers on the way. What guts, walking all night to do this. And I worry that I’m slow!

Zoe and Her Attendants

I got home late, but it was worth it!

The Snowstorm

I didn’t get to the park right after the freak snowstorm we had over the weekend…for one thing, it was closed because of all the downed trees and branches. The leaves aren’t off the trees yet, so the wet snow accumulated on them and did a huge amount of damage. Yesterday I went for my ride..the southeast section of the drive was bordered with cut-up branches waiting for collection for over  a mile…solid! And all along the drive there were other areas lined with leaves. None of the elms in the poets’ walk appeared to be down, but some had lost their tops, and others had branches down. All of those wounds have to be treated so Dutch Elm Disease has less chance of getting hold…I took a few pictures, but they don’t really give the full impression!

A Victim of the Storm

Another Downed Tree

A Decapitated Elm

Statue and Limbs

It’s heartbreaking to see all the damage…there are still piles of chipped wood from the microburst that devastated the northern end of the park. And the wood can’t be taken out and used because of the Asian Longhorn Beetle infestation. Meanwhile crews are trying to get the park safe for the Marathon! After that, I guess they will start taking out the trees that are too badly damaged to remain. Here’s a link…