2022.06.15 - Cool Running

I’ll start by saying that heat kills and needs to be respected, for sure it’s the most dangerous of conditions. If you do run, run smart. If you can, run easy and run early, ideally on a shaded route. Run short loops that allow you to bail at signs of trouble, and, if it’s an option, run near water to jump into! That said, today would be a pretty normal summer day for a Florida runner who has adapted to the heat. That same Florida runner might look at the idea of running on a day in the 30’s as crazy, temperatures we look forward to after a winter streak of days in the teens or 20’s! Extreme short runs can give us tremendous satisfaction, when given the respect they deserve to limit the risks.

Run smart, run cool,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who loves the adventure extreme conditions can add to our seemingly simple sport.

2022.06.01 - Bad weather running, so what?

The weather for Saturday Morning’s Traverse City Bayshore Races was what would be called ideal to most runners. No wind, mid 40’s to start, then moving up to perhaps 60 for the late finishers. Two days later or earlier it would have been warm and muggy. For those of us who train and run smart, with respect for the distance and day we are given, perhaps we will place far better against our ill-prepared peers on a so-called bad day. That said, joy and pain are what we line up for, we take ourselves to our limit and when it goes as we had hoped, we stand in wonder at what we have accomplished, when it goes bad we hope to learn from it.

We run, we get it,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who often jokes about so called perfect days … I hate days like that, they leave no excuses to use for when we don’t reach our goals! Ha!

2022.05.18 - No Run for me

We put in the hard miles to build our base, like building a house by hand, board by board, mile by mile. We feel the progress and newfound endurance, like seeing the house finally taking shape, then … It burns to the ground as some part of this amazing body breaks. Perhaps we were posting, boasting, and feeling bullet proof at a time we should have been carefully and quietly respecting the climb and watching for warning shots across the bow. When we up the miles we are upping the ante, upping the risk, hoping to run that fine line, near, but not over the crumbling edge. Perhaps we were playing the weekend warrior and lost a battle, or perhaps were cautious and still broke. Dang. Now, we start over, knowing how sweet it will feel to get back to that first pain free mile.

Run smart, recover smarter,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who has not run for 7 days due to weekend stupidity. Tomorrow, I inch my way back. Spring is dangerous all the way around.

2022.05.26 - Running Fun!

After a couple stressful years adapting to life with Covid, the running world finally feels back to a new normal. We are fortunate to be in an outdoor sport with room to run. Thanks to your support, RF Events has made it out the other side and is back in full action! We kicked off spring with the Martian Invasion of races, a week later, a glorious Trail Weekend, then, some 24-hour run insanity at Island Time and 5K beer run fun at Hightail To Ale in Detroit followed by a road trip to put on Dances With Dirt in Gnaw Bone, Indiana, whew! Love it! I can’t believe next week is the first Triathlon of the Wednesday night T-Rex Series with the forecast is showing it will be in the high 80’s. Pure Michigan weather, going straight from winter to summer. If you want to dip your toe into the triathlon world, these friendly mid-week sprint races are perfect, consider joining us in June, July, or August! Need coaching? Iron Mandy will be heading up a triathlon class to get you ready. Here is the LINK that will steer you to adventure! Lastly, a plug to join me camping out on the land and setting your soul free. Weekends of June 11, July 16 and August 20. Camp Bruin is a dirt running paradise with a beach, hot showers and endless trails to run or hike. We will even have a two mile dirt road loop in camp marked for an easy way to pile up miles and meet new friends! Also, the Run Woodstock trail loop will be marked for those who want to check out the course. Check out the LINK to signup! All camp and run fees are a tax-deductible donation to Washtenaw Promise. Enjoy, while helping give kids a leg up. Read more about their mission HERE.

If it’s not fun, don’t do it!

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner looking forward to it all!

Get the all new book from the obsessed runner himself. The perfect way to stay motivated this season!

2022.05.04 - Get your butt out the door

It looks like we will be skipping spring and going right into summer next week with no time to acclimate. Wild weather just adds to the adventure, like my run yesterday that finished in the rain. I looked at the doppler, knew it was coming, and smiled when it slapped me! Next week, get out there, respect the heat, and smile like you know a secret, while other’s curse. Ha!

Now for a shameless plug for my book. The book is a valuable tool, not only will it make getting out the door easier, it seems that it will add insight and value to every mile you collect through life. I’m just repeating what I keep reading in the hundreds of 5-star reviews. I am humbled and grateful that what I have learned and shared is helpful. For those of you who have my book, I thank you. For those of you who order a book from the link below, you will get a signed copy a couple bucks off the Amazon price, and if you send me an email on the day you order it, sharing with me your running goals or want it signed to someone as a gift, I will add a personal motivational poke on the inside cover.

Order HERE

Enjoy every healthy day,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner … It never gets old!

2022.04.27 - Recession Running

I’ve noticed that market volatility, the war in Ukraine, gas prices and other high inflationary areas have had little effect on the head clearing, life energizing, value of the daily run. On second thought, the run seems to have become more valuable than ever! That said, we may adjust our lives a bit, choosing not to buy the Brooks Adrenaline in every color, and running local, perhaps skipping a trip to South Africa to run Comrades, and choosing Run Woodstock instead, saving a few bucks and keeping our carbon footprint a smaller size. If only all of life’s decisions were so easy.

Decide to run, today!

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who is feeling balanced, diversified and protected from the downside. Running, the new gold.

2022.03.30 - The Guilty Pleasure of the Run

Most of my runs are on trails through wilderness settings that on some days, the beauty stops me in my tracks. On these runs, there are views and nature that can’t be ignored or passed by in a blur. Then, there are days where I’m totally immersed in my run, where I am one with my body enjoying only the cadence of my footfalls and my breath. The natural world goes by in a blur and only the path that pulls me along is all I notice of my environs. On days like these I used to finish with a sense of guilt, not remembering anything about where I have run, that I have squandered the gift of nature for the gift of the purity of my run. I’ve come to realize that this world and this running life are so amazing that I just need to get over it and enjoy every stinking minute!

Run and enjoy,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who found myself curled up on the couch immersed in a good book, only to look up at the amazing view in front of me and had that same silly feeling or guilt that I was ignoring nature, when in fact, I was one with it all. Dig it.

2022.03.16 - The high value run miles

I just finished a long run and the final miles were a painful struggle, so difficult in fact, that I totally forgot that that’s why the heck we run long runs! All those early miles that go by easily are necessary, they get us to the high value miles, the ones we came for, the miles that prepare us for the next longer run. So, when the hurt hits, say to yourself, finally, the good stuff!

Grimace, then smile, suffer and grow,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner, with a lousy memory when it comes to pain …

2022.03.09 - You can skip the run

When it comes to the daily run it’s a personal choice if we run, or skip it. We sometimes need to be reminded that, this is what we do for fun! As my friend John A. says, “If it’s not fun, don’t do it!” Life throws a ton of stress our way, stress we may have little control over. Running on the other hand, might come with some stress but it’s stress we put upon ourselves, stress we control. So, go run and beat yourself up on the run, but don’t beat yourself up if you skip the run or the run goes bad or race goes bad or any negative aspect of running, even an injury. When you finish a run, if you’re not smiling it’s time to rethink things.

Run, smile, repeat, or don’t run, it’s OK!

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who just took 3 days off, mostly by choice … And I am writing this as a reminder to myself as usual!

2022.03.02 - Running, pain, and joy

Running seems so simple, one foot follows another as we go from point A to point B. The reality is much deeper. Running is difficult on many levels. It is physically hard, taxing all systems of the body from muscles, tendons and ligaments to the lungs, heart, veins and arteries. Runnning is mentally difficult from the time management required to fit the run in to our busy lives to the constant struggle with our brain and body trying to convince us to walk. To the non-runner, the big question must be, why? To the runner, especially just after finishing a few, or many, punishing miles, the answer to this question is as complicated and deep as the run itself, perhaps with no adequate way to explain the pure joy of what we just did, without experiencing it.

Let’s go earn that joy,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who often feels miserable during the run but always finishes feeling grateful for what the run has given back to me, exponentially more than what I put into it. Amen.