The "Easy Run"

Today's run brought me back to why I love to run so much. There is nothing better than doing an "easy run". An easy run is a run where you aren't striving to hit any time goals or distance goals.... you just run and run at a very low intensity to where you could have a full conversation at all times. It is the best feeling that you can have while running. You actually don't ever really want it to end... you just want to continue going at all times!! I trekked out this morning with no goals in mind... just run and put on the Ipod...when I felt like finishing, I would finish... that's it... and it was perfect.
I got onto the Suncoast trail by the 3rd mile...and at the end of the trail, I can tell that this guy was trying to talk to me. So, I took off my earphones and heard him say to me, "Are you even breathing???" and then he said, "I wish running could be that easy for me".

The truth is that easy running wasn't even possible for the first year that I ran. Every time I ran for the first 4-5 months, I felt like my heart was going to explode. Now, that was because I truly didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I was very slow, and my goal was to finish as fast as possible...but it was more often than not...miserable!!!!

If I could give any advice to anyone who is new to running, or thinking of getting into running is that I would just try to run and not completely wipe yourself out. Once you get the hang of easy running, you will be surprised on how fresh you feel after all of your runs.