At the beginning of June I felt that I was ready for a new challenge. I set a goal of completing 100km (62mi) by the end of the month. The runs were mostly at the Washington and Old Dominon trail, an amazing trail located 5 minutes away north of my residence. I decided to switch units on Nike+ Running from miles to kilometers for mainly one reason: it made more sense. Most major running distances are measured in kilometers (5K, 10K and so on) and thus I set the monthly goal in that unit.

I also had another task to completed during June as I wanted to finally retire my Nike Flywire and look for a new pair. The searching journey began online by reading blog reviews as well as shoe ratings of different websites. I like change in general. However, I have had those Nikes long enough to not want to switch to a different brand, hence I limited my options to Nikes (Step 1). Next, I began listing down any issues that I may have had with the Flywires and how I may improve the running experience. Generally, running shoes are capable of providing support if needed and that raised the question of whether my feet and legs needed any kind of support (Step 2). In the middle of my search, I came across Nike Free 5.0 which had an almost-perfect score on every trusted website.

A conversation I had with a co-worker who is passionate about running brought up important points about shoe fitting. Have you done shoe fitting in the past? My co-worker asked. Prior to that, I was not aware that show fitting stores exist, as I did not think I needed any help picking up my own running shoes. But then I thought that an expert's advice would not hurt. I found a running specialty store located 15 minute drive from my house and on a Sunday afternoon went to find my shoes.

The running expert at Runner's World took me into a set of demos that included electric feet scanner and camera-supported treadmill that provide a full report on how my feet function while running. Two points were very interesting and caught my attention: a) Feet do not necessarily put the pressure on the same spot. For example, the pressure may be on the front part of one feet and the back part of the other. This could lead into foot aches and therefore may increase the chance of injuries. b) Feet width is important. I have never taken feet width into consideration whether while purchasing sport shoes or casual shoes.

If you do running or jogging our regular basis, you probably began with a basic running schedule at a specific location. It's common for us humans to engage in many activities without thinking about possible risks until something happens. But running long distances, or even starting out with a mile run, is different because it's easy to get in trouble.

You need to educate yourself on the many preventative measures that must be taken to keep ourselves injury free.

The best liquid for any runner or athlete for that matter is water. Filtered water is your best choice. Bottled water is sometimes questionable in regard to what may be in it. Don't drink electrolytes replacement drinks. This will actually waste your money, and will not help you as regular water will take care of your hydration needs. Of course there are always some occasional exceptions such as if you're a marathon or ultra-marathon runner. However, these running specialists recovered very well long before electrolyte replacement water hit the market.

Anytime you do different workouts, on a regular basis, athletes need to use a training schedule of some kind. There are two main benefits that you need to consider. You'll develop many different parts of your body because of the workout variations. People that do so many different workout will be motivated to continue because it is novel and not boring. We all know how it feels when we fall into the occasional rut. The problem with lack of motivation is you will burn out, not wanting to your exercises when you need to. Running on different surfaces, or going to different locations, can actually help a long-distance runner. It's also a great idea to do interval training and do intermediate distances when doing your runs.

All of us have a preferred time for running. Sometimes the heat will keep us from running at this time. When it's hot, running before work is probably your best option early in the morning. Dedicated runners will like this advice very much. So if you do training runs, do them in the late afternoon or early evening for the best results. If you run later in the day, you can breathe in more pollutants than you actually want to. If you live in the city, cars can thicken the air with smog, which you will have to breathe in great quantities during the late afternoon and after. Take your situation, and run with it (pun intended!) - you just have to do what's best for you.