VFF, my lovelies, I heart you

I said I'd take the rest of the month off running.

I didn't. I know, who would have seen this coming, right?

I wasn't sure I wanted to go for a run when J and I talked about this this morning, while eating a late breakfast consisting of pancakes, berries and maple syrup. Last night we celebrated our climbing progress with a glass of wine or two (or three, who's counting?) and we both suffered the consequences this morning. In addition to our tiredness, I had a sore neck from doing some sit-ups last Friday.

Oh yeah. I started a programme for sit-ups and squats that promises to make you able to do 200 consecutive ones in just 6 weeks. My current strength is good enough to allow me to jump into week 3 for the sit-ups and week 4 for the squats. Strange, my legs don't feel that strong when I'm running up a hill...

Anyhow, we decided that a Sunday without an easy 5 km run is no Sunday at all and jumped into our running clothes. I packed my Kayanos in my backpack, because I had a plan: I'd run 3 km in my VFFs and then switch to the Kayanos for the remaining 2. I didn't want to increase the VFF dosage too quickly and get injured.

My lovelies

Initially my heart struggled to find blood to pump around in my veins, which were obviously still trying to get rid of the last drops of alcohol. We headed for the woods, and I don't know if we were optimistic or just stupid. Once we got there, I did an elegant dance on the grey ice, swirling around and waving my arms trying to keep my balance. I failed. Yet I consider it a small success that I didn't land on my ass.

Change of plans: We'd run a different way, on the ice-free pavement. On the way to said pavement, I had the joy of testing my VFFs on a patch of real earth with pine needles! and pine cones! Trackless running in the woods! It only lasted 50 metres, but wow. What a thrill. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to actually run completely barefoot.

It's not this beautiful yet, but soon...very soon

The 3 km-mark came and went and I kept running in my VFFs. It got easier and easier. My cadence was high, my breathing was stable and rhythmical and my legs felt light. I never thought ditching the heavy shoes would make such a difference, but it did.

Back at our doorstep, the Garmin showed 5,5 km. I had just run my first ”real” run in VFFs.

Seeing as this was a 2,5 km increase since I last ran in them, I might regret it tomorrow. Right now, however, everything feels fantastic and my inspiration is back with a vengeance.