Running sucks

Why do we run? It's painful and often we feel as if we're dying. Most people would feel the pain and take themselves out of the situation that's causing them pain. Runners, however, keep putting themselves through this pain day after day after day. Like the title of this post and the words on one of my shirts say, "Running Sucks." I have ideas though why we keep doing this self torture. 

Getting better feels good. Being able to go a little farther everyday makes you feel a sense of accomplishment. This feeling might be why people keep running. I know for me, whenever I get a personal record in a race, I feel wonderful. 

Another reason that's probably the most popular one is to keep getting in shape. Running makes you become more healthy. No matter how big you are, running will make you lose weight. For many people, this might be the only reason they're running. But it's a great reason. You don't have to race and compete to be a runner. All you have to do is just run and you're one of the crazy runners who put themselves through constant punishment. 

Hydration

Being hydrated is critical to running. I have experienced being dehydrated for practices and races and it severely cut my performance. The only way to be hydrated correctly for races is by drinking water throughout the day. Our coach always says that each day you should drink about 8 normal bottles of water to be hydrated. Whenever I drink that much, I feel much better running and perform better too. 

The American Beverage Association gives guidelines on their website for how much water you should drink. They say that for adults you should drink around 11-16 cups. It also says that if you're an athlete you should drink more. http://www.ameribev.org/nutrition-science/hydration/

So why only drink water? Soft drinks do have water in them, but they have so much sugar in them, they are awful for you. Drinking a little bit of a sports drink every day also helps you keep your electrolytes up. This is crucial for the hotter weather that is coming up with the summer. 

In conclusion, drink water. Drinking 11-16 cups a day will make you feel better and perform physical activities better. 

Kinvara

During Junior year cross-country I had ankle problems at the beginning of the year. They hurt very badly and my coach thought that it might be because of my shoes. At the time I was wearing Reebok Zigs and I thought that they were good shoes. I went to a running store and got two new pairs of shoes. One was a Brooks Pure Run and the other was a Saucony Kinvara 2. Both of the shoes felt very comfortable to wear and were lightweight. Over the rest of the season I began to like the pair of Kinvaras more and more. I wore them through the winter and in the spring, I got the next installment of them, the Kinvara 3s. I liked these too because they were even more lightweight. But these shoes began to have holes in them. I looked online to see if it was a normal problem and I found that it was extremely common. I liked the shoes, though, and kept wearing them until they were too worn out to wear. After they were completely worn out, I bought the Kinvara 4s. I didn't know if the same problem with the holes would persist on the new shoes. They did but because they still felt so comfortable to run in I have kept running in them. Now those shoes are getting worn out and I will probably buy the new Kinvara 5s this summer. They have apparently fixed the problem with the holes so i am excited to find out if it is true.
Overall the Kinvara is a wonderful shoe. It is very lightweight while not sacrificing cushioning or comfortability. The holes are just a cosmetic issue and won't influence the performance of the shoe.