Why running is good for you; and why you're dog is so happy

D- runs have been maintained at 9:20 pace for a few days in a row. Despite a sore knee, I'm optomistic about a good race in two weeks.

Its getting to be that time again where we ease out of peak mileage into that restful period before our next race (Boston's Run to Remember). This weekend, C and I finished our last pre-race double digit run at a relaxing pace - about a minute over expected race pace. I am feeling a bit tired, so I think the pre-race tapering will do wonders for me.

For now, I wanted to share a few articles I was talking to C about that I read last week.

First there was a great (and apporpriate to my knee) Time Health article revisiting my favorite topic : Is Running Bad For Your Knees?: Maybe not. I hear a lot of people telling me that running is bad for your knees/joints/heart. There really wasn't anything new in the article, but its nice to have a reminder that its actually good for me, provided I'm smart about it.

The other is a  great NPR story about why we love running, as a species. Even if you don't love running now, remember that feeling of sprinting around the playground as a kid? As you probably already know, we're hardwired to enjoy it. What I wasn't expecting was that animals that run (ie. dogs) have a similar chemical response, and animals that don't like to run don't.

At the very least, it was kind of funny to imagine a scientist trying to get a cat to run on a treadmill.