I fell off the running wagon this week. Judge me if you must, but I had my reasons. OK, there were no reasons and if there was they were probably a stupid reasons. Never mind that. I ran this morning, and it felt pretty darn good.
Yesterday I counted shoveling the driveway as my exercise. I thought a half hour of walking back and forth carrying shovelfuls of snow was exertful enough (what do you mean, “exertful” is not a word, computer? Damn!). In fact, I tried to take a walk later but only made it for 15 minutes, because my body was tired. But that was then, this is now, and this morning, I decided to try a run.
It was almost 8:30 when I set out, because I had eaten around 7:20 (I checked my watch, knowing I wanted to wait an hour after eating). It was only a banana with peanut butter and raisins, but I like to give myself every advantage. It was below 30 degrees, so I wore leggings and long sleeves. I added my road guard vest, because it made another layer and because I knew I would be running in the road. Also, it gives me a pocket for my tissues.
There is more traffic than I like on a Saturday morning, but not as bad as weekday mornings or any afternoons. I got to German Street and took my chances. I had an idea to run up the hill by Valley Health. As I ran, I rethought that plan. I hadn’t run since last Sunday, I reminded myself. Running at all was good. I didn’t need to do hills yet. I had spent a little time earlier in the week looking at a calendar and over-thinking my training plans vis-a-vis the Boilermaker 15K in July. I should be fine, as long as I keep at it. Then again, it is a good idea to be better than fine, because, as we all know, shit happens.
My last run was 25 minutes. After taking too many days off, I did not think I would increase my time by the recommended 10 percent. In fact, if I only did 20 minutes, I could still be in fine shape by July. Well, just keep going, I thought. See what happens.
It was cold. My butt was cold. My legs were cold. My hands were cold. But I kept going. After a while my head got hot. Fancy that! I am not usually a hot-head. I rounded the V corner at the high school and turned down Marion Street. I was tired. After a while, I noticed I was running at a faster rate than my usual middle-aged shuffle. I could slow down! Then I wouldn’t feel so bad. My body didn’t want to slow down. How weird was that? Eventually I managed it, and it helped.
Almost 20 minutes into the run, I started to feel good. Damn! I could go 25 minutes! I could go 28! This was awesome! I ended up running 25, to equal my last time. After all, I didn’t want to be racked up for the rest of the day. I felt pretty wonderful during my cool-down walk (the irony is not lost on me of having a “cool down” at 28 degrees Fahrenheit). As it happened, I did spend a good portion of this day feeling tired. However, that might be due to the Sudafed I took for my stuffy sinuses. No matter. I ran, and now I’ve blogged (silly verb, that). Happy Saturday, everyone!
