<p>I subscribe to RW and their website is full of good stuff, including lots of articles and info for beginners.
Title IX Sports is a great source for clothes (and other gear). I like their shorts with a 4" inseam.
There was a thread a few months with running (I think) playlists. Search for “Love Shack”. ;)</p>
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<p>One warning: grass, especially if it is not well trimmed, can hide a lot of troublesome obstacles - bumps, gopher holes, beer bottles, etc. that can all cause you to turn an ankle if you step on it. A bad ankle sprain keeps you from running for about 3 weeks. I found this out the hard way</p>
<p>1moremom, I think I started that thread and my ipod shuffle list VASTLY improved as a result!! </p>
<p>I like the moving comfort shorts for that reason. Lots of different styles, but the ones I have right now are featherweight, and longer than usual running shorts…you can get them at Title 9 but I think it’s a good idea to try some on at a running store first because they are all cut differently and some are more comfortable and/or attractive than others. In the fall I switch to running capris and in the winter to long pants–I like Hind and Nike for the latter. Hind has petite sizes for the short among us.</p>
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<p>I run on the local high school baseball or football field, depending on which one happens to be unoccupied. Its pretty well maintained.</p>
<p>Poestheart - I started running at long distances at the age 40 and I haven’t looked back - six years later, 3 marathons, and I am still hooked. All the advice above is great (ipod is wonderful, but watch the volume).</p>
<p>Also be aware of road shoulder cross slope (for drainage). Running against traffic will always have your right hip higher than your left. We run very early in the morning to avoid traffic so that we can run on the level surface.</p>
<p>Start out slow, and walk when you feel like it! There’s no shame.</p>
<p>Good luck - you’ll love it!!!</p>
<p>Forgot another good running song–Temperature, by Sean Paul…and adding to the safety/health advice, don’t wear those earplugs in your ears when running on or crossing a road–easy to get run over because of inattention or not hearing an approaching car. Just on footpaths away from traffic or treadmills, tracks, etc.</p>
<p>Food/drinking advice: I think everyone is different. I like running on an empty stomach–either first thing in the morning on just coffee/milk, or several hours after a meal. But I’ve seen some good runners eating Clif bars while running…</p>
<p>My knee doctor warned me about running on dirt or grass because of the uneven surfaces, after my knee surgery. Too easy to take one bad step and that’s the end of THAT ligament. Also, downhills are bad on old or repaired knees.</p>
<p>Some brands of shoes have a better reputation for middle-aged women. Brooks is one, Saucony is another. In general, the way the shoe is built can correct the way your foot naturally hits the ground. Now that I know which shoe works for me, I buy my shoes from a runner’s catalogue which rates each shoe for stability and cushion. If you’re plump, you’ll need more cushion than a lean competitive runner. </p>
<p>I like Saucony Grid Hurricanes which cost $99 to $120 a pair depending on the discount. I buy two or three pair to rotate. That will last me about a year. If you do start running high miles, you will need more than one pair… Check the bottoms for wear. </p>
<p>As I said, in the middle of my training for my first marathon, I bought inappropriate shoes with the help of a salesperson at the premier running store in a big city. He obviously wasn’t paying attention because he sold me $100 shoes that were all wrong for me. An inexperienced idiot, I should have been reminding him to take a good look at the runner in front of him–or should I say–the behind of the runner…;)</p>
<p>Other than that one mishap, I have never had any knee or joint problems–touch wood–and I have run off and on for over thirty years.</p>
<p>I second the caution about the headphones. I wore them too until my friend the ear surgeon told me that headphones cause irreversible deafness–all deafness is irreversible. It is too easy to turn the volume up when the traffic noises get louder. </p>
<p>Another tip is to find a buddy to walk/run with. Someone who will call and harass you on those cold mornings when you’d rather not run…someone who will help you keep a good pace.</p>
<p>I’m terribly impressed with all of you who run so vigourously. I walk two or three miles a day and lift weights twice a week but really can’t run any real distance without everything hurting the next day. However, I do the “sprint 8” program, which has vastly improved my walking speed–you do 8 reps of 30 seconds as fast as you can (anaerobically), with 90 seconds of a slow walk in between to recover. I do it twice a week and now walk so fast most of my friends complain I’m too fast–they used to complain I was too slow (I’m short). </p>
<p>There’s an interesting article in today’s New York Times Science Times section about training for, eating for, and actually strategizing for the marathon.</p>
<p>One more bit of advice about buying shoes-- a good store will expect you to take them for a “test run” outside the store and watch while you do. Also, if you find a shoe you really like and the manufacturer comes out with a newer model, you can often find the “close-outs” at <a href=“http://www.sierratradingpost.com%5B/url%5D”>www.sierratradingpost.com</a>.</p>
<p>I never run with a headset – I like the running for its own sake and thus I don’t need music to distract me from it. Plus I like to observe the world around me as I run rather than withdraw into music. I’ve seen all sorts of odd things while running over the years: llamas, a sled dog team (both of these in SoCal), Marines in full combat gear, a hot air balloon making an unscheduled landing, Civil War reenactors on the march, knights in armor sword fighting, a small plane that came within a few feet of crashing, countless lovers in the bushes, and lots of other stuff.</p>
<p>This is why I also hate running on treadmills. I feel like a hamster futilely and pointlessly running on a wheel, and on a treadmill I’d never have all those experiences. Plus I have to concentrate too hard the whole time on not running off of the treadmill and crashing. Get out in nature on your run. Enjoy your surroundings. It’s a whole wide world out there.</p>
<p>Haha coureur. I’ve seen some fun stuff too. No lovers–just flashers :eek:. The best was when I ran past a guy who called out to me :“You better be runnin’ through this neighborhood!”</p>
<p>or you can just get on a bike and go,…</p>
<p>Coureur, I used to feel the same way about both music in my ears and treadmills–couldn’t stand the thought of either. I can only do a treadmill with an ipod around my neck and in my ears, but running on the treadmill with speed intervals and knowing exactly how fast I am running, and testing myself against the clock, has taken about 30 seconds per mile off my pace. </p>
<p>One of the cutest things I’ve ever seen running though was this fall in Central Park, when my daughter and I passed a “runner” who was literally dancing to the music on her ipod as she ran. Man, was she ever having fun. That’s what the music does. It wasn’t until I could design a playlist tailored to my rhythm, and also until the weightless shuffle came out, though, that the thought appealed to me. I wear it on the lanyard around my neck, under my running top. </p>
<p>I think that I don’t really like running so terribly much that music doesn’t improve it. I agree that I miss the sounds of birds, etc. with the music, but it just makes me run so much faster and with more enjoyment. Of course I don’t always listen to music, and spent the first 25 years of my running life without it, but I’m really more motivated and happier to get on those shoes than I was before. To each his or her own!</p>
<p>^^Agreed. Whatever it is that gets you out there and running is good.</p>
<p>Another piece of advice for the OP: Avoid focusing too heavily on the Big Goal. Instead think of running as adopting a new lifestyle; be in it for the long run. I’ve seen people take up running in order to achieve some specific thing: to run the big marathon, or to look good for the high school reunion, or what not. But the problem with these people is that, as soon as the Big Goal is achieved, they are abruptly robbed of their driving motivation. They usually stop running the very next day.</p>
<p>So use running as a way to enhance your entire life. Learn to love the running for its own sake. Go ahead and train for the marathon or reunion, but view them milestones along the way and not as finish lines.</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, CHEERS–you deserve a medal for the pain and suffering!! That is an amazing story, but then runners are a stoic bunch ;).</p>
<p>Another idea is to run with a dog if you’ve got one that loves to run. Exercising two creatures at once!</p>
<p>I did get a medal! When I crossed the finish line! </p>
<p>I don’t know if it was stoicism as much as idiocy, however.</p>
<p>Yeah, but that medal was given to everyone else who crossed the finish line too. You deserve something SPECIAL. Maybe a broken-foot medal–you know, bronzed shoe broken in half at the midpoint or something. </p>
<p>Found those running shorts I favor at the Title 9 website, called “Running Shorts for the rest of us”. Sheesh…</p>
<p>Since I run in the semi-wild, I’ve seen few human spectacles, but: mama ducks with babies, a swan (now gone from the duck pond, sad to say), great blue herons, pelicans, skunks (one who chased me for a while, THAT was a sight to behold), snakes, rabbits, wild turkey, a seal, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot. Fortunately, no mountain lions.</p>