Lessons learned

It's been a good week running and I learned -- or relearned -- a few lessons.


1. Water is like oil for the joints. When I drink plenty of water, I have few to no aches or pains in my knees or anyone else. But when I chug those Diet Cokes and forget the water, well, my knees can start to talk to me just a bit.


2. I sleep with my feet so pointed my toes practically touch the mattress. My husband thinks I am a freak because of it. Anyone else out there able to do that? Well, what I learned is anyone who can probably has tension in their calves when they run. In ChiRunning, we really, really relax the lower legs. Getting my calves to relax has always been a great challenge for me. I always felt like my ChiRunning technique was solid but still the calves would begin to tense as early as 3 miles and certainly by 7 miles. The other day my chiropractor suggested I stretch not only my calves but my hamstrings -- and do it 4 times a day. Four times a day! I don't do anything four times a day unless there's chocolate, salt or a Diet Coke involved, or better yet, all three. Plus, I hate stretching. Still, I decided to give it a try, and my last two runs of 3 and 4 miles have been great. Chalk one up for stretching (but I still hate it).


3. Even when you think you're going to have a lousy run -- and want to bag it before you start -- it's good to give it a try. Tonight, I just felt like it would be a miserable run, but tomorrow it's supposed to be below zero and Sunday too, so tonight was my best chance to run without frostbite. I told myself I would go 1 mile. If I felt as bad as I did when I left the house, I'd stop. But as most of you already know, after that first mile, I started to feel better and better.


OK, I know these aren't earth-shattering lessons but there are good to remember. So why do I keep having to learn them again and again?