My quest to become serious again with my running is in day 3 now, and going well. My body is sore as it can possible be, my diet is better than its been in months and i’m hopeful that i’m on the right track to getting back in shape. As I mentioned the other day, I started doing some weight work again, and have picked back up with the jumproping that I started at the end of last summer. From everything i’ve read, its really a great workout and I think my body would agree. I read on 5 other sites about how it provides you a FULL body workout, and I can feel it in my ab muscles, meaning i’m gaining core strength, which I need right now. So that made me think about what other ways I could jumprope to get more cardio, and I found these cool ideas …

Well, that guys good, eh? I guess I need to master the art of just simple jumproping for the time being before I get crazy with any of those moves. Anyway, a combination of this and doing weights adds another 30-35 minutes to my workout each day, making up for the additional miles I can’t get in because of the cold … and I have received emails and comments (even from my friends) about using the treadmill, and I just can’t break down and do it .. i really dislike treadmills, they’re so boring .. every year up until this one, I got a gym membership that only went to waste because I used it for a few weeks then ended up outside again, why spend the money, eh?

So i wrote about my new shoes the other day, and I finally got to use them this morning, THEY ARE GREAT! Long live the Mizunos! I’ll never go back to New Balance or Asics after wearing these. They’re so light and comfortable, however the real test comes in when I start racking up mileage on the longer runs, thats where I need a good shoe .. the 1061 is the only model thats done well for me (limiting any pain and black toenails) so we’ll have to wait and see..

I just want to share one last observation as I continue to explore the running paths and trails here in the Lehigh Valley .. I always wrote when I lived north more that I never saw anybody out in the cold or out in the mornings, but thats definitely not the case here. I find that there are at least 4 other runners, and 2 ladies who walk pretty much every morning between 5:30 and 6:30, regardless of the weather. The other morning when it was 20 degrees and a 5 degree wind chill, I thought I’d be the only lunatic out there running .. NOPE! I passed 2 other people .. its a weird kind of psychosis that we runners have, we’re just committed I guess.

Well its time to head off and get some rest, another workout is in less than 12 hours …