Slowly but surely

I ran 10 miles this morning. I ran along the East River to 28th Street and back. It was sunny and cold. A beautiful day to run, despite going against the frigid wind on the way back up. And it felt really good. This is such a great achievement for me at this point.

I am really pleased and quite sanguine about my running this week. By tomorrow I will have ran 27 miles, which is good if you take into consideration that 4 weeks ago I was not running. Despite that I decided not to run the Manhattan Half tomorrow. I am just not ready yet. I should not have been too impatient to come back to running and spent $15 on a race that I will not run, especially in these bad economic times.

I read this article on the latest Runner`s World issue. Usually when I run outside my eyes go everywhere. I look at buildings, people, animals or anything that is noisy. I like to soak up the environment. I am definitely not averse to waving, nodding to other runners whenever there is eye contact. Today I decided that I would be trying to see how others would react if I kept eye contact as I crossed them during the run. It was also a way to make things entertaining and faster as I run. I noticed that women, in general, kept to themselves and were always looking forward so there was not much opportunity for a wave or a nod. Some people would actually avoid my stare as soon they noticed I was looking at them. But, on the other hand, got a lots of nods and smiles (even from non-runners and passer-bys). I came across this guy twice, once on the way down and the back. First was a casual nod and the second was a nice `keep going` cheer.