"Shoeless" Al Gonzo

What a great day it was outside! Not only was the big and-all beautiful sum beaming thru, but it was 52 today on this, the last day of January, here in New York.

Yes. It was indeed a great day to run outside for lunch today.

If ONLY I hadn't left my sneakers at home.

Mother Fu#%*%*#!!!!!!!

How could I possibly do this?!!

What sabotage! What lunacy!
No. Better still .... What Idiocy!!!!

I needed to run to keep my streak .
There was only 1 thing to do....
The treadmill at work AND.....
Go shoeless .

I so wanted to call this blog post , "Barefoot Contenda" as a pin to the cooking show of a similar name ("Barefoot Contessa") but to do that I would have had to run completely barefoot on the mill, and that's the type of a career-limiting move at work that I would wish to avoid right now.

So up on the treadmill I got. Nothing between me and the 'mill 'cept for y double-layered Wright socks, which I still swear by to this day.

The first mile was more of a novelty than anything else as I really didn't pay attenion to the things needing attending to. For one, a certain sense of male inadequacy came about for the top of the treadmill was yet another 2 inches closer to my head (guess those sneaks give me a lift after all).

All I kept thinking was, "My lord. What if some executive walks in here and sees me running in socks?" I can see the inter office memo now. "Proper attire must be maintained at all times...EVEN AT THE COMPANY GYM! This means you, Blogrunner!

Of course as I'm even more dedicated to my job, I didn't even get to do y 'lunch run' until 2:30. Most humans have finished eating by then. Also, and then again, to most 'humans', a 'lunch run' signifies a trip to a food place and not an actual RUN!

My 2nd mile was more interesting because my once broken interior left left tibia was flaring a little.

Do I stop?

I already saved the streak but had so so much energy left. What a shame it would be to do a Roberto Duran and walk away.

So instead I focused on changing. My stride and my landing technique. Without shoes, I had abandoned my ball-heel technique but realized that the impact was taking its toll on my unprotected feet.

Mile 3 was where my feet started getting hot. As a beloved Mets fan, I was wondering it Roger McDowell was back in town to give me hot foot.

Mile 4.
Would I make it?
Would I dare even try?
Fuck it.
Did it and done.

14 consecutive days and nothing, not even missing sneakers has deterred me from going on.

And if that weren't enough, here I am at precisely 8 o' clock writing to you from where of all places? A treadmill at the Training Station Athletic Club in Port Washington. In fact, this entire blogpost has been written while I've been hammering out 8:40 miles.

Umm let's see...
Looks like nearly 6 miles done already . Another 10+ mile day and.... A new mileage record for me for the month January.

Fuck off, 2011. I'm gonna blast you 2012-style. Ho!!!!!!!!!!