A few notes related to running that I’m thinking about this week.

1. I notice new things on nearly every run, even though I run mostly the same route every day. This week I noticed the common hawthorns that have been blooming (looked up via PictureThis). Now I’m seeing them everywhere, and they are so cool. TIL, they are part of the rose family.
2. I love reading Mario Fraioli’s newsletter, and they recently published 41 Life Lessons For My 41st Birthday (great) and also shared the article Advice to My Younger Self: Five Lessons From a Physiotherapist for a Lifetime of Sustainable Running, which contains advice for ultra-runners but is just as good for nearly everyone. One lesson that I’ve been thinking about is “Our life stresses impact our running every bit as much as our training. We are but a single bucket, from which resources are added and subtracted.” Balance is everything.
3. I ran over 20 miles last week (the most I’ve done in a while), and I feel great. Waking up early again has been a game-changer.
4. This post from Mike Crittenden on What stretching does and doesn’t do turned me on to Joe DeFranco’s Limber 11, and I’m trying to do both more flexibility and strength training with my lower body (like the “Running Bike Pedal” ).
5. I never used to run with my phone (except when traveling) and turned my nose up at running belts but recently started wearing one to carry my dog’s ball and my phone as I like being able to snap photos of things I notice. It’s super slim, cheap, and one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time (I don’t even know which one I have, it’s just a generic Amazon model).

Happy running 🏃🏼‍♂️