Day One

Here I am, back at the beginning.

This summer, after a disappointing marathon in the spring, and a crushing, so-close-it-hurts half marathon in June, I was not enjoying my runs.

The last run I went on that I liked, was on my birthday in mid-July.  After that, I was dragging myself out the door, counting down the minutes until it was over, and not feeling any better afterward.  I was either mad at myself for being lazy and not pushing myself or exhausted from working too hard.  That pesky hip injury from last winter started to kick in again, and my knee wasn't feeling great.  When we went to Alaska in August, I was happy for an excuse to take a break, but when we returned, I just didn't start again.

I used my hip as an excuse, but unlike in the past with injury, I was in no hurry to get back out there.  I think I ran twice in September.  In October I worked out a handful of times, and did a bit of yoga, but I was unmotivated to do much else.  I kept up following blogs, but didn't comment and didn't write my own because I didn't feel I had anything to say.  I watched A LOT of tv.  I ate A TON of halloween candy.  Still, the longer I went without running, the more I dreaded that first day out.

I was sure it was going to be hard, and I was going to be slow and out of breath.  Finally, this week, I ran, and here's how I did it:

New Shoes:  There's nothing like new shoes to put a new bounce in your step.  It wasn't quite time to get new shoes, but I will put screws into my last pair for slippery winter days and get a few more miles out of them yet.  Spending the money on new shoes made me feel that I had to use them!

New Route/Location:  I was in Gatineau, Quebec for work this week, so I brought my running gear.  A new route is a good distraction.  I also wasn't able to compare how fast used to run this route or how easy it used to be, because it was brand new.

Running Buddies:  I grabbed a couple of coworkers to run with me.  I warned them both that I was on the comeback trail and they were super supportive and let me call the shots.  They did most of the talking, which was another welcome distraction, and I was able to keep up without getting out of breath.  Every runner has been injured and come back at some point, and so they knew what I was going through.

No Pressure/No Garmin:  I didn't want to know how fast or slow I was going, so I left my Garmin at home.  My friend carried her iPhone and used MapMyRun but didn't tell me the outcome until the end.  I also originally planned to run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, but ended up just running until I needed a walk break.  With lots of short hills we went about 25 minutes out before we took a 5 minute walk break and then headed for home with a slight short cut.  I was pleasantly surprised that we covered 8K in 50 minutes, including that walk break and about a 1.5K of trail.

It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, and felt so good to get that first run out of the way.  I'm in Toronto until Monday and then in Whitehorse next week so I am looking forward to following up today's second run with a few more runs with different scenery and no pressure while I get myself back into the groove.