Unsolicited Advice from Strangers

Sigh.  The strangest thing happened to me today as I was just one block into my run this morning.  A lady in her Toyota Corolla stopped me and told me that I really should be walking rather than running because of damage to my joints.  Wha????????  I have never seen this person before, she's not a neighbor, and even so, WTF?  Who gives advice to people running down the street? And stops them in mid-run?  So bizarre.  When she stopped me, I had to take my ear bud out and keep my feet moving.  At first I thought she was lost since she had passed me earlier.  I'm friendly and my father-in-law calls me a homing pigeon since you could basically drop me anywhere and I'd find my way home.  So expecting a "hey, could you tell me where such and such place is," I stopped.  But noooooooooo.... it was "don't you think you'd get the same health benefit by walking at the same speed because, you know, the damage to your joints from running?!"  Instead of politely saying, "Thanks for your concern, but I don't see how this is any of your business," I stood there dumbfounded explaining my minimalist footwear and how I no longer have joint pain and that I'd been running this way for six months.  I'm still shaking my head at myself.  It was single-handedly the strangest exchange I've had with another human being in a long time.

What it ended up doing for most of my run was that it made me mad.  I was just getting started and usually my first 1/2 mile or so I'm getting in my groove.  It took me most of my route to get in a groove today.  Thanks, Ms. Probably-Never-Have-Run-In-My-LIfe-Driving-Around-In-My-Car-Giving-Random-Runners-Unsolicited-Advice-About-Their-Joints, for being a total groove killer.  Whatevs.

The positive things going on today, however, are 1) eating better and lighter - time to be a weight shedding machine and 2) I went a full 2.5 miles, running about 1.75 miles of it.  I'm sore as all get out because of weight training on Saturday, but at least I know I did something. And like I said before, running is good for what ails ya and today it helped make my muscles a little less sore.

And as a salute to more healthful eating, I'm posting a quick recipe for a Greek-yogurt based dressing on The Domestic Goddess.  Check it out and enjoy!