As anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time knows, I run because I am in the National Guard, and I need to keep my fitness level high. I also have learned to enjoy it, and I like pushing myself from time to time to see if I can improve on my pace, distance run, or even to just see if I can enjoy a nice, easy run even more than before. Sounds silly, I know, but I am doing my best to keep convincing myself that running is fun. Since we do better at things we find fun, I keep trying to make running fun.

I am currently assigned out of state at a school for the National Guard, and I’m enjoying the weather by running as much as I can every other day. Why not every day? Because, as Clint Eastwood said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” As an older guy, I try to take it easy by having a rest day between runs. I find that this helps keep the injury rate down and allows me to enjoy running more since I’m running without pain.

I’ve run here twice now in the past three days. Today’s run was actually the longest yet, and the longest I’ve run in a few weeks due to some injuries I sustained a month ago (non-running related). It felt really good to be able to push it a little, to feel the wind rushing against me, and to push myself running up hills and to allow gravity to pull me down as I ran down those hills. Being at a higher altitude than usual upped the difficulty some, but I’m okay with that. I look forward to getting back home and being able to perform all that much better due to the denser air.

Some soldiers here asked me if I run to keep my weight in check. I told them, “Not at all; I eat right to keep my weight down. I run to keep fit.” I then ended up giving a class on the difference between nutrition and exercise and their roles in our weight and fitness. Fortunately, I think some of them got it.

I will keep running at least every other day for the rest of the time I’m here. I’m hoping to make some serious progress in my running pace and increase the distances some.