Workout: 4.3 Miles

Time: 39:40

It’s amazing the difference a week makes.  Last week I was overly sore from a stiff neck/shoulder and my entire run was thrown off kilter.  This week, the pain is gone and I had a nice, smooth, relaxed run over the same course I did last Wednesday.  I was able to run with a clear mind and actually give some thought to my running.

While running, it dawned on me how much your geography affects your training.  For instance, if you live in a mountainous region, your runs are likely to be mostly hilly.  If you live in the plains out in the mid west or west, your runs are likely to be flat.  I guess the same goes with weather as well.  If you live in the northeast, you’ll have hot summers and cold winters.  If you live in San Diego, CA, you’ll have nice weather year round.  Geography, in part, then, impacts the type of runner you’ll become, and the quality of runner you’ll become.  Obviously if you run on hills all the time, you’ll be a much better hill runner than someone who lives where it’s flat.  If you live somewhere where it’s warm all the time, you won’t fare well in cold weather running.

All bad feelings aside, New Jersey luckily allows for varied weather, varied altitude, and varied terrain.  From where I live, there’s multiple choices to choose from.  There’s the Towpath, which I’ve mentioned previously, which is 37 miles of flat, mostly dirt and stone path.  Leaving right from my front door, I head into a labyrinth of large uphills and downhills in any which way you wish to run…all on roads.  If I go another direction, I can run in Liberty State Park with the New York skyline and Statue of Liberty in sight.  If I go south, I can run on the sand at the beach, or in the dirt trails of the Pine Barrens.  In spring its warm and wet, fall it’s cool and dry, summer its hot and winter it’s cold.  Basically, living in New Jersey gives you almost everything a runner could want for varied training…minus the high altitudes.  Some might say it’s a runner’s paradise.

So what about you?  What’s running like where you live?  And what is your ideal running condition/terrain/location?  I’d love to hear from you…comment below!

Until next time… Run on friends!