So, I ‘ve started running, and I have a new phone.

Yes, those two things are totally connected, and if you’ll indulge me a bit, I shall tell the story of the phone and the shoes.

Just after New Years, I decided to start running. During that first run it was pouring outside, I ran in my hiking shoes, and I was completely drenched despite rainclothes when I came back after half an hour. But I kept at it for two months, following the couch – to 5K program. After having not quit, I decided I should get myself some better running shoes, and ordered the New Balance Minimus Trail shoe (WT20). Then, oh… then, we had a theft, and lost important documents, a computer, sentimental stuff, and little useful things such as the mp3 player I’d been using to time my runs. In the aftermath, replacing the mp3 player and to keep running felt pretty low on the list of important things to do and sort out.

So, fast forward a month and a half – I’d gotten my shoes, and I’ve been walking in them lots, including a hike that ended up a little off the path, and the shoes have been pretty great. They belong to the barefoot-style of running shoes, and it is… different. And good! I can’t explain it other than it feels like you’re walking barefoot, except you have a very lightweight shoe on. I use the muscles in my feet a lot more while walking, and I walk up steep hills differently – like I’m barefoot (hmmm, surprise!).

Fast forward about another month and a half or so, and I’ve finally treated myself to the smartphone I’ve been wanting to get for years. Which also means, I now have a device to play music on, which is how I time my runs (run to a 1-minute song, walk to a 1,5 minute song – which isn’t much, but I’ve decided to start from the beginning again of the program). And that, my friends, is how I started running.

And this is how I take pictures with my fancy new phone. Let’s ignore the thumb-over-lens-action, and look at lush trees and mountains and a gorgeous summers day instead. Yes, let’s!

Anybody else taken up running lately? Or has barefoot-style shoes? Or has completed a 10K and wanting to brag about it? (I’m hoping that’s me by the end of the year!)