10 Observations On My First Run In 2 Months
We are so back! Yesterday, I strapped my shoes on, leashed up Mason, and went on my first actual outside run on pavement in 2 months, since I was first (increasingly probably mis)diagnosed with a stress fracture. Here are ten quick observations on how it felt!
Why are all of my running clothes black? Black hat, black jacket, black pants—- bright red shoes at least. This was not an intentional choice, but I felt like a ninja running through the neighborhood, and, since it is December and dark at 5:30, a ninja looking to tangle with business end of an over-compensating suburbanite’s Cyber Truck. Off to Amazon to buy some reflective tape…
I always feel one of two ways for the first minute or so I’m running—- this feels awful and I’m going to have to quit, or this feels amazing and I’m about to run 20 miles. Neither feeling lasts. Last night it was the second one, but I was able to restrain my enthusiasm and keep it short and slow. Speaking of which…
I have got to go slow slowly getting back into the groove. When I got hurt, I was literally in marathon shape and had just completed an 18 mile training run. After two months on the couch, I am… not that. The last thing I want is to get hurt again, but honestly, the worst part would be feeling stupid that I got hurt again/needing to tell people that I got hurt again. Not going to do that. We are doing a run every other day at best and sticking to less than 2 miles until I know I can hack it.
Mason pooped in a neighbor’s yard and, even though it was dark and no one could see us (ninja costume), I still cleaned it up. What I’m saying is, I’m the humanitarian of the century.
Mason is a 50 pound Australian Cattle dog. One of our neighbors has a ten pound little fluffy something or other dog that is usually out in their backyard, and last night Mason went absolutely nuts barking at it as we went by. I’d tell you he did that because he hasn’t been out running for two months and has a lot of pent up energy, but I’ll admit that he’s always like that.
One of the last things I did before I had to shut it down was buy a new pair of shoes. I was hoping that the issue was just shin splints and new shoes would resolve it. They sat, untouched, in the closet for the whole time I was in the walking boot, and now I finally get to bust them out. The feeling of running on brand new shoes is in my top 5 all time experiences, and it usually lasts about a week before they just start to feel normal. We’re in the zone right now!
Speaking of which, my shoes look great. My fashion sense leans hard into normcore/dadcore/eddie bauer core, but I always try to buy the loudest possible pair of shoes I can find (Mizuno Wave Runners—- I’ve been wearing that for years and they finally started selling a pair in red). And then I wear them in the rain and the mud for two or three months before I’m finally ready to rotate them out of being my running shoes and into being my everyday shoes. No one get’s to appreciate how obnoxiously bright they are out of the box. So it goes.
I finished up at a mile and a half and felt like I could do the whole thing again, but I made myself stop. We are in in this thing for the long haul. If you’ve made it this far, check out the rest of the website to learn what I’m training for and why, and, if you can, donate or share to my fundraiser!
Mason and I took a selfie on the driveway when we got back. Because I’m color blind, I didn’t realize that the Christmas lights were bathing us in a weird green light until my wife pointed it out. Punk rock.
I woke up this morning feeling like maybe I have strep. Medcheck ruled that out, but I do have some kind of nasty virus in my throat. So it might be another day or two before I can get back out there. Two steps forward, one step back. But we are back on the road!
