National Running Day: A Day of Well Mannered Frivolity

“The hills are alive, with the sound of music…….!” To that tune, Happy National Running Day! To celebrate this joyful occasion, we…run. At least that was the plan. For the last few weeks I’ve been battling (by battling I mean denying) a beginning case of shin splints. The inside of my leg was especially sore in a small area. I lowered my mileage by leaps and bounds, but alas, it was still not getting better. Hey, at least it wasn’t getting worse. I finally decided to take some wise and long overdue advice: rest, ice, and read something to distract myself, ha. A week has passed training-free, and it has been a yin yang of lazy and tough. Have you ever taken a week off and felt so out of shape? I really wanted today, being National Running Day, to be that first day back. But it wasn’t. It rained the whole day. My city is basically a lake. Come to think of it, something always happens on National Running Day so that I don’t run. Well, suck it up buttercup, because things happen, right? It’s not the bumps in the BMX track, it’s how you deal with them. Therefore, I’m using today to be grateful for the ability to be able to get out and do these things.Also, for those cool post-flood views:

I’m also grateful for people in the sport who broke boundaries to give us better opportunities today. In running, people like Katherine Switzer, Frank Shorter and Steve PreFontaine, and so many more. In BMX there are so many people who have advanced our sport, people like John Purse, Kyle Bennett (RIP KB), Dave Mirra (RIP), Cory Nastazio, TJ Lavin, Fuzzy Hall, Greg Hill, and of course that list goes on too. All in all, it might be raining, we might be turning into Atlantas, and the screamingly eternal force of humidity is upon our up-dos, but darn it if a double rainbow and a hair band didn’t fix it all. There is always something to be thankful for, really so many things. Don’t forget to remember that!:) See you out there.