Finally running again

For the past ~2 months I’ve been overwhelmed with reasons not to run.  Healing from a race, being sick, being too tired… it’s like excuses where piling on top of me, surely to keep me from ever running again.  I’d like to say that, much like a super hero in a cartoon, I finally broke free in one massive explosion of effort and heroism.  Not so much.  I did go for a run today though. 

This morning I set my alarm a little earlier than I normally would on a run day, because I knew I’d be struggling.  3:45 came and up I went.  I got dressed, did some light stretching.  It’s not a great idea to stretch cold muscles, but I knew this wasn’t going to be a warm-up kind of run, so I’d need to loosen up a bit.  I finally strapped on my shoes, turned on the rum monitoring app on my phone, complete with rock music, and hit the pavement.  I could immediately tell my knees were in bad shape; I spent the entire run looking like an old man.  I ran as best I could to cushion the shock of impact.

Mile 1 – 12:58 – the first major hill is out of the way, the second is coming up.  Knees are like rubber, but I fat-coach along the best I can.

Mile 2 – 12:54 – hills are done, with a gradual down hill toward a .25 mi. flat finish.  Usually I would complete the 2.25mi. loop to finish at the house, but this morning, the 2 mi. minimum was all I could muster.  I am absolutely drained, but it feels so good to have gotten back out for a run.

I have been sick with a respiratory infection for about 6 weeks.  I used up my antibiotics, am almost out of cough medicine, and have been using an inhaler (sparingly).  I got a little better, but then kinda just plateaued last week.  The extensive holiday eating probably didn’t help.  This week, I intend to get back to eating healthy.  This morning I had 2 eggs, scrambled with a little bacon and mozzarella cheese.  I had 20oz. of water with breakfast, and a 20oz. smoothie* on the way to work.  I have nuts to snack on at work, to supplement a Lean Cuisine and a can of tuna for lunch.  Dinner will probably be leftovers, mostly turkey but maybe some leftover venison chili also.

Hopefully I will be able to get 2 miles in again Wednesday morning, under 20 minutes.

 

 

*smoothie Ingredients: 1 cup greek yogurt, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 8oz. V8 veggie mix, 4oz. cran-raspberry juice, 1 whole kale leaf.