After eight months of no running (in an attempt to soothe my angry Achilles), I started running again a few weeks ago.
It’s been a slow progression. I’ve only added about a half mile in distance to my longest run each week, starting at a half mile back in November.
Due to travel and the holidays, I didn’t do much for the last two weeks of December, but have picked it up since then.
At first, I was only running three times every two weeks, then twice a week. This week marks the first time I’ve run three times in a week since the re-start. I’m cautiously optimistic.
I’ve deliberately kept the pace a little slower than what I’d like – typically between 9:00 and 9:15 per mile, and it’s been great.
I took my daughter on my third run of the week yesterday. We ran outside (😱) on a January day in northern Virginia and didn’t freeze to death!
I took her on this run deliberately. Although a track runner, she doesn’t typically run longer than 2-3 miles, so that helped force me to keep the pace sane. We went 3.9 miles at around a 10:00 pace, which was fine with me, given that it was on rolling hills.
Of course, having Jana running with me gave an added bonus – we got to run together, which rarely happens! And…the biggest milestone so far was achieved – more than 10 miles in a week!
I know that isn’t that much, but it still means a lot to me. Sure, there were weeks where I was averaging more than 10 miles PER RUN, with five workouts per week. But that was years ago, before I was hurt, and when I was in the best shape of my life.
Even so, this is important to me because I’m starting to feel like a runner again. That means the world to me!
The Runnin' Major 