Hey guys

Did you know that it is more fun to run outside than it is to run inside on a treadmill? Which is not very hard, because running inside on a treadmill is no fun at all. But it is what I have been doing since college, albeit intermittently. Today, however, I explored the marshy reaches of Shoreline Park near work. And by "reaches" I mean three miles.

I have been intimidated by running outside, mostly because I don't know where to go. Like, around San Francisco? In my neighborhood? To the park? But I have to run down city streets to get there, and that seems weird and embarassing. And stoplight-full.

What I discovered tonight is that not knowing where you are going is the best part of running outside, because it gives you a chance to slow down when you are confused, and even to stop at intersections. I turned these stops into "stretch breaks", and it was great! I got to smell the smelly Shoreline marsh, and see a pelican, and almost step on a very lazy snake. But don't worry, I didn't squish it, and I even took a "stretch break" to stand by it and point it out to some oncoming bicyclists, so that they wouldn't squish it either.

Moral of story: running doesn't totally suck. That doesn't mean I want to have like a million of its babies, either (to quote from some mid-90s movie that I can't remember right now).