Running: Not Simple.

It seems like running should be so simple. It's a pair of shoes, a pair of shorts then.. left food, right foot, repeat, right?

There's actually a mind-numbing array of decisions that a runner has to make every day:

• Is it just gas, or something more... troubling?
  
• Can you make it across the street before that car, or must you *gasp* stop.
  
• How should you dress, not for the temperature outside, but the 20 degrees warmer you're going to feel 3 miles from now?
  
• Is 8 miles long enough to need water bottles and anti-chaffing creams etc. or do you not bother with that "sissy stuff" until 10 miles?
  
• Is it going to hurt more to finish... or to stop.
  
• How much to eat and when so that you've got the energy to run without... tummy troubles.
  
• And of course the most important decision of all: How much faster do I have to run to finish my run before I have to get ready for work if I hit the snooze button just one more time?

Sorry to subject any non-runner to these ruminations, but this is the stuff that goes through my head when have to do 8 miles without an iPod. The next post will be more interesting, I promise. :)