Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Today was so nice.  The temperature was about 50 degrees and the there was a slight breeze.  I ran my normal Sunday long run with a friend today, which is unusual for me as I usually run solo as I'm sure many of you do to.  

We talked mostly about running issues like muscle and joint pains and how best to deal with them, but we also talked about toll roads of which Oklahoma seems to have a plethora.  It seems wrong that the state would use tax payer funds to build and maintain roads while simultaneously charging user fees (tolls) for said roads.  We conceded that neither of us had researched it very fully, but that it would not be surprising given our state's history if this is exactly the case as to how these roads are funded. As a libertarian I have no problem with toll roads as long as they remain privately funded by the users, that is the ones who pay the tolls.  It seems reasonable in free society that those who use a resource ought to be responsible for funding it.  But we citizens are taxed to the hilt already.  Why take a perfectly good example of a free market mechanism for allocating resources such as roads via tolls and tax us on top of the user fee system in place?  Again this is just a little bit of me airing my thoughts without having fully researched the topic.  Perhaps I will look in to the issue further, but I'll save that for another day.  Getting back to the run now...

The pace was nice and easy, but my right knee is slightly achy and my lower right abdomen is a little sore to the touch.  I may have strained a muscle somehow, although I'm not sure how as I have not done abdominal exercises in a few days and I can't remember having ever strained it simply from a long run.

The weather forecast on Tuesday looks to be just about as nice as today was, so I'll be looking forward to my next long run.   

Today the weather tricked me a little.  I was freezing cold in my house drinking my frozen protein drink.  So when I suited up to head outside I put my cold weather pants and warm material long sleeve half turtle neck running shirt on.  I guess I should have trusted my instincts that when the temperature is above 50 degrees I am going to be fine in shorts and short sleeves, even if there is a cool breeze.  I think what got me thrown off were all the clouds outside.  There was no sun and no blue sky all day today, and as I said before I was really on the verge of shivering in the house.  I decided to change into shorts before leaving, but I should have also changed shirts.   That warm material as a bit much by mile 2.  I had beads of sweat forming on my forehead and I was only running warmup pace.

It probably did not help me any that I had that protein drink less than an hour before I started my run.  My stomach was cramping the whole time like I was full.  I thought it would go away after a few miles, but it persisted pretty much for the whole ten. 

My right knee didn't bother me too much on the run, but I can feel it a little right now.  I need to look into the best recovery methods for knee pain.