Whenever I’m heading somewhere without a backpack I try to always get a bit of running and jogging in. It’s nice to warm up when it is raining and it’s always good exercise. But for some reason up till now I’ve never really considered running on the grass next to the sidewalk. I mean occasionally I’ll run and balance on the curb or on top of some wall next to the sidewalk, but I still spend a lot of time smacking my feet into concrete. I ran to UW today and had a great time running on the grass, dodging trees, jumping over the sidewalk, and avoiding puddles. Why run on the grass rather than the sidewalk you ask?
- It’s more natural. Human beings are not adapted to running on flat hard surfaces for long periods of time, it’s really hard on your feet. We have shoes that attempt to fix that issue with padding, but shoes aren’t perfect and many may in fact be making the situation worse.
- It’s good for your ankles. Running on varied terrain increased your ankle strength and responsiveness since you are constantly adjusting to different push off angles and different landings.
- It improves balance. For the same reasons that it strengthens your ankles, running on varied terrain improves your balance, especially if you also run on curbs and tree roots along the way.
- It’s simply more fun. In my experience, more possibilities and more challenges means more fun. I had a great time today jumping over tree roots, bouncing off trees, hopping over the sidewalks, etc…
Give it a try!
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Thats funny, I have been trying to run/walk on turf as much as possible for a long time. One running workout Idea I had was to walk through the city and run every time you see a stretch of grass to the end of that stretch of grass that would work out as random speed interval work out. Running in barefeet on grass is a wonderfull feeling.
I agree completely. Running on grass throughout high school while on the soccer team, along with kicking the ball hundreds of times and playing barefoot, strengthened my ankles like crazy. When I take a hard landing I am never really worried about my ankles, more for my knees which soccer harmed as much as it helped unfortunately. ‘Offroad’ running really is more fun and you are totally right. I think there are a few trails under this bridge near Ravenna. I’m going to check the out this weekend.