Muscle Memory

I agreed to run with Kevin today because I had mentally scheduled a runday, we haven't run together in a long time, and because he told me that he was injured, so we wouldn't be able to go very far or very fast. He said we would probably have to walk the hills. Mind I ran two days ago on Friday, but that was the first time in months (I would rather have said weeks, but months is accurate).

I have made no plans whatsoevr regarding how I needed to train to get back in shape, how many weeks it might take, or how far I should go so that I wouldn't burn out or suffer a major injury. So when we started out today, I had no idea how far we would go. But once we started, everything went OK. I was a little more out of breath than Kevin, and I know that he slowed down to accomodate me. We weren't fast, but I remembered how much fun it was to run together, how Kevin and I are able to keep a conversation going for the whole run, and I remembered what it felt like to actually run. It felt great. The weather was perfect.

We ran (with walk breaks on the hills) about 7.25 miles--Kevin had his Garmin. I would never have started out to run 7.25 miles on my own; I didn't think I was up to that distance yet. But we ran on dirt trails--easy on the legs--and we went slow, and we walked a bit; still, if I can do 7.25 miles now (BTW, I will be sore in the morning), maybe it won't take me as long to get back as I thought. That is the value of running with a friend: if the friend is willing to go at your pace, you can do a lot more than you would have done on your own.

Running Aground

No running today, just running around. I'm sore, though, pitifully out of shape from yesterday's little jog. My heel and toes still hurt, yet I have a date to run with Kevin on the dirt trails near his house on Sunday.

Running isn't supposed to hurt. It's supposed to make me feel better, reduce stress, and make me more fit. And it normally does all of those things, except that when I anticipate becoming injured, I'm not all that eager to get out there. This is the struggle, isn't it? To get out there even when you don't really feel like it. I will go out and run, and see if I can't push past the aches and pains and get back to a point where the running is effortless and productive. Keeping my fingers, and toes, crossed.

On the Road Again

I ran today for the first time in probably months. I didn't take a watch, and didn't have any goals, except to finish my 3.5 mile route without limping home. And I did fine, only stopping twice.

The first time two elderly women in an old yellow Cadillac stopped me on the road to ask directions to the Hazardous Waste drop-off site--I resisted the urge to make a joke about elderly drivers and pollution prone large cars, and directed them back in the direction that they came with some added details about the hidden driveway that they missed.

The second time I stopped to pick up a nail in the road. My wife works at what is basically a truck loading/construction zone, so she gets flat tires from a nail maybe three or four times a year. Whenever I'm not in "racing mode" I stop to pick up nails and throw them to the side of the road. But today there wasn't just one or two nails; I ended up spending about 20 minutes gathering nails from both sides of the road until I had two fists full. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry.

Unfortunately, all those little injuries I had before have not gotten better during my running layoff: heel pain, foot pain in the pad behind my toes. Now that I feel well enough to start running, these injuries might not let me.

Next planned run is on Sunday. Let's see how I do then.