Not a ton to recap from my running week… I’m still experiencing a lot of dizziness and brain fog. And yes, I realize I should go to the doctor, but I HATE going to doctors. Here’s where I rant a little…
I once read that the difference between eastern and western medicine* is this:
Eastern: Treating patients with problems.
Western: Treating problems in patients.
I believe this statement, 100%. It is very very very VERY rare when I’ve come away from a doctor’s appointment feeling glad that I went. Most of the time I feel like I wasted my time and money by paying a co-pay and sitting in a waiting room for so long to see a doctor for a few minutes. And most of the time I leave feeling a little guilty, because doctors always seem to act like they’re rushed and like I’m taking time out of their day, like I’m a nuisance. I’m very quick to take blame upon myself, even for things that aren’t my fault. So when the doctor acts this way, I feel like I’ve done something wrong. I usually realize after that I am fully justified to expect a doctor to listen to me when I make an appointment, but post-appointment isn’t the time for that realization.
So anyway, I keep living in a fog. Some days the pressure in my head seems to lift once I start running, only to settle back in later on. Other days that feeling prevents me from having a good run, like yesterday when I could only eek out a little over 4 miles on the treadmill because my head felt like it was stuck in a vice. It’s really a weird sensation, it’s hard to think through new things and I feel like I have to concentrate super-hard to do seemingly simple things… like driving or walking.
I did wrap up another week where I got 6 quarter-mile barefoot runs done. They were all done at 5.0 mph once again. But after 2 weeks of barefooting at that speed, I think I’m going to bump it up a notch… probably 5.2 mph! I’m taking it short and slow so as to avoid injury. The whole point of this is to just build strength in my lower legs & feet, plus raise awareness of my gait. I’ll repeat, I have no dreams of running long distances or races or outside barefoot right now. 
Here are the week’s running iPhone self-portraits.
*In this case, Eastern vs. Western means more in terms of a global perspective, not US coasts, if you were confused. 
