Different people; same feelings

I've been reading "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami. It's a collection of essays about running. Murakami is a Japanese author. He's written a few novels and does translations of English novels into Japanese.

And he runs.

On every page that I have read, he reveals something that makes me think, "OMG. He's in my head. That's what running does for me!" or "That's exactly how it is."

The fear when he feels a tweak while running. The frustration when a run doesn't go like he had hoped. The need for routine and consistency. The freedom that finishing a lengthy run gives you.

It is so strange that I have so much in common with a 50-something-year-old Asian man whom I never ever have met, all because of running.

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I fought against running tights for a very long time. For one thing, no matter how much weight I lose, I still have a skewed picture in my head of how my body looks. And running tights are, well, TIGHT.

I also tend to think of running tights as something for Serious Runners. Even though I run every single day/night (including the other night after I got home from work from at 8 p.m.), I don't think of myself as a Serious Runner.

But I'm all about making sure I do this thing, making sure that I don't let up. I knew that cold weather was coming, and I needed something that wouldn't allow me to make excuses. So a few weeks ago, I went to Academy and looked at tights. I bought a pair and now I am hooked. I need more running tights. I want to wear them everywhere.

I bought Under Armour ones, and their slogan, "The only layer you need for cold weather" is 100-percent accurate. Of course, I've only tested them in low-30 temps, but my legs stayed warm.

And if I wear a big shirt over them, I don't really care how I look. :-)

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I promised an update on the glucosamine I started taking two weeks ago.

Is it working?

Well, my hip flexors aren't aching as I run anymore. But that could be that my old body is getting used to the pounding I'm putting it through more than anything. I ran five miles last night (had to atone for the sin of fudge) -- usually that would mean that I'd be a little sore when I wake up -- and I wasn't even a little bit sore this morning.

So I will keep taking it. Can't hurt, right?