running, running, running

I have never liked running. It’s torture. I’ve been running for years now though because it’s mandatory for gays. I have also been trying to lose a little of the weight that I’ve put on since my accident two Junes ago, so I’ve been running a little more than usual. While running two weeks ago, a man came up to me and said that he was watching me run, and wanted to know if I had lower back problems. I said yes, and he told me that he could tell and the he wanted me to come to his shoe store for a consultation. It was not as weird and creepy as that makes it seem…hmm. He was someone I’d talked to and seen at the gym for about 5 years- we kinda knew each other but not really. Anyhow, he works at a store called Run Tex, and he knows a lot about running, shoes, and running shoes.

Two weeks go by, and I realized that me waking up with sore feet every morning is probably related to my ancient and falling apart shoes, and that I should get some new ones. Rich had just gotten new shoes in preparation for our trip to Europe, so I figured I should do the same. I went to Run Tex and the same guy had me remove my old shoes and walk a little, then he pulled out 4 pairs of shoes and away we went. It was like being at the eye doctor’s office… "which is better? left or right? okay, now which is better, left or right?". I ended up spending about 90 bucks on a pair of Asics (he gave me a 20% discount), and I have to tell you, I totally love them.

If you think you might not have the right support in your shoes, go see a professional, someone who runs a lot and knows about feet and shoes. I have been running even more, and yesterday I realized that I’m actually enjoying it (the soundtrack makes a huge difference, I loved running to the Kill Bill soundtrack). I was previously doing 20 minutes at a stretch, and now I’m doing about 45 minutes to an hour. Also, I have lost 8 pounds this month. My goal is to shed the 30 pounds that I put on after my accident, and then begin to lift weights to bulk up a little. A LITTLE. I don’t want to be massive or ‘roidy, but I do want to look good on European beaches.

Life is going really well on other fronts. I feel like I’m not saving enough money, but I’m saving all that I can. I’m teaching plenty, and classes are getting huge again. I have one class that is lingering in the 10 to 12 students area, but most of my other classes are 20 to 25 students. They’ve grown larger the longer I’ve been on the faculty of our teacher training program. The trainees come to class, and they bring friends along with them.

This is going to sound crazy, but I’ve given up on commercially produced moisturizers. I just got ooked out by the idea of slathering myself with lotions made by machines months if not years ago. Even with preservatives the oils in the lotions are getting rancid, and it gets absorbed by the skin. Now as your skin absorbs those rancid oils they continue to degrade, and that contributes to the degradation of your bodies natural collagen. When that happens, the skin begins to lose it’s firmness or tone and feels slack or squishy or thin.

So I switched to organic cold pressed coconut butter. It turns from solid to liquid at 78 degrees, so I warm it up in my hands and apply the oil to my body, face, hair, and lips. It absorbs quickly on dry skin and feels great. And my skin looks amazing after just a week. Try it, it’s amazing… just don’t go crazy and use too much or it won’t absorb as quickly. It’s cheap, it’s natural, and if you store it in a pantry or in a dark glass container it will last forever. Even Rich is using it, and he normally hates both moisturizer and my crazy hippy ways.

bonus to that: I smell like a delicious coconut. I might mix it with lime oil just to smell extra delicious.