Start time: 07/02/06, 11:15am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

Two weeks later, it was time to get running again… right? I’d been stretching every day, all the pain had been gone for well over a week, and my achilles tendons were extremely flexible now. So, that meant a six-miler at the new run site this morning. As I went to bed, though, I started having some doubts. It’d been two weeks since I ran, and that wasn’t the same as just missing a weekend run. Plus… it sounds a little silly to me now, but I was feeling more than a little hesitant about going without really knowing anyone there. It would be one thing to be “guy who pooped out on his run and had to come back slowly” but something else to do so without at least someone else I knew there for moral support.

Ultimately, though, my decision was made for me when my alarm went off this morning and I felt… well, horrible. Once I was lucid enough to do more than slap the snooze alarm, it didn’t surprise me. I’d been out late Thursday night, out late Friday night, gotten very little sleep before site assisting on Saturday morning, and then not getting much of a nap on Saturday because plans for the day were changed on me giving less time to try and recharge. So even though I’d been in bed by 10pm and asleep within half an hour, it just wasn’t enough. My entire body was completely and utterly run down.

So, I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep with the intention of running on my own once I got up. This was both smart and not-so-smart. It was smart because I desperately needed the extra rest and would function a lot better with it. It was not-so-smart… in that I didn’t set the alarm to a new wake-up time. I ended up sleeping in far later than planned, which my body clearly needed but it’s also a pretty hot day and the temperature was rising quickly. So by the time I actually got out there to run, it was pretty toasty and humid. Add in having not run for two weeks… and, well, it became pretty clear that a 6-miler just wasn’t going to happen.

In the end I just ran a 3-miler, following my (annoying) pattern as of late of going out too fast when by myself and slowly grinding to a halt. (8:58, 9:32, 9:57 for the splits.) I think it was the right call, though. This week is going to be reminding my lazy innards that they need to get used to running again. If I end up with good runs on Tuesday and Thursday then I’ll feel really good about this upcoming Sunday’s run at the site again. But the important thing was to not bite off more than I could chew, but to just get moving again. Best of all? No pain or even tightness in my calf muscles. Hurrah! So really, a huge huge victory. Fingers crossed, that’s something that won’t come back. (I’ll continue to do my stretches, worry not!)

Here’s to a much better July than June in terms of running. (My June total? 8.25 miles. A new low in terms of mileage, but utterly understandable since the rest of the month was me sitting out an injury.)