I'm Baaaaaaack!

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

And I'm happy to say I didn't lose an ounce of stupidity in my 3 weeks off! Saturday I threw all logic and sense out the window and ran my 9 miles not at a nice, slow, recovery pace but one second over my Air Force Half Marathon race pace of 7:27/mile! Which might have caused my frequent potty trips for the 4 hours following the run (it could have been the Chicken Teriyaki Subway I’d wolfed down the night before, but I'm sure the 9 mile sprint didn't help)

Victory!!!!

We’d driven back home to Cleveland Friday evening and, after rescuing my puppy, Teddy from the kennel, took him on a 2-mile walk. Since he’d been cooped up for the last few days, he was extremely excited and wanted to run the first part. And who am I to discourage running, whether man nor beast? I didn’t have any pain for my little ¼ mile flip-flop run and it got me pretty pumped for the morning.

The aftermath of the walk

Saturday morning dawned crisp and bright, and as Teddy and my husband quickly reclaimed my spot on mom’s futon, I changed into my running gear (already neatly laid out the night before, of course). I drove passed many runners on my drive down to the towpath, and for the first time in weeks, didn’t glare at or curse any of them! “I’m one of you” I wanted to shout from my car!

As I made my descent down to the path, I watched my car thermometer drop 12 degrees from 58 to 46 (and also nervously watched my brake light keep dinging on my dash…) The sun was trying to burn through the morning fog and I anxiously tried to pick the best song to start out my victory run (‘True Love’ by Angels & Airwaves, also the intro song for my wedding party at our reception!).

The Towpath on a less foggy day

I couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off my face as I started out, pain free, and I’m not sure if it was the cold or pure joy that brought the tear to my eye. I was back. I AM back!  It felt so nice to be back “home” (before I got married and moved, the towpath was my husband!). At one point, I even passed another runner wearing a Disney Half Marathon shirt and

 “Are you running this year?!” I shouted.

“YES!”, he exclaimed.

“ME TOO!!!!!!!”, I rejoiced.

 And we celebrated by pumping our arms into the air. (And he was not the only Disney Halfer I spotted on my run either!)

The run turned out to be really good. I had to take a few ‘shoe-tying’ breathers, which was fine since I hadn’t run in 3 weeks (and even more fine when I finished and saw my average pace!). I’m so excited to be back! Truthfully, now the other side of my groin hurts a bit, but I’m not too concerned. That side I've had issues with on and off for 2 years and am pretty confident I know how to deal with it (the other side was some sort of monster of its own, causing this wretched 3 week hiatus). I’m going to try to remind myself I’m not in a race the next couple of runs and ease up my pace. I might even switch out one run a week with the 800-calorie bike burn (that little machine has started to grow on me).

After my after-run 4 hour love affair with the bathroom that afternoon, I recovered just in time to join The Turtle for an evening of ‘Opa!’ at a family friend’s wedding.

All better!