I almost never run on a Monday. Additionally, I have not be running at all in… weeks? Surely not months. Hm…..
Oh dear. I just looked in my Running Journal (YES, I keep multiple journals; don’t you?), and my last entry was March 17. That does make it months! I may have run since March 17 and not written it in the Running Journal. That is quite possible. It is equally possible, though, that I did not.
No matter. The fact is, I ran today and I am going to write about it.
I had thought about running while I was at work. I had also thought about going to the Herkimer County Humane Society and see if I could walk a dog. An even more tempting thought was a hot shower and a glass of wine. However, I knew the first two choices could potentially yield a blog post, so I confined my decision to those two.
Until I left work and felt too tired to do anything. I went to The Medicine Shoppe in Ilion to pick up a prescription and took the opportunity to go into Ilion Wine and Spirits for a bottle of vino (just to add a brief shout-out to two local businesses). As I drove out of Ilion I realized I was headed for my house, not the Humane Society. So I’ll run, I told myself. I don’t want to, I answered. Look at this beautiful day, I told myself. You can’t waste it.
When I went in the house all I wanted to do was lie down. I actually did lie down very briefly. While in a prone position, I realized that I would never feel like running. That got me on my feet and headed towards my running clothes. No, it was not grim determination and discipline. Merely, I acknowledged that I felt like crap and remembered that I could still go running under those conditions.
First I put in a load of laundry. You see I can multi-task to a limited degree.
It was not as warm out as one would expect halfway through May, but it was sunny and, as I observed earlier, beautiful. Sunshine does make everything look good. My legs were immediately unhappy with me. I told myself that it would probably suck worse before it felt better, and that made me feel a little bad-ass. It helps to feel bad-ass during a run. I only planned to run for twenty minutes. I set a slow, shuffling pace, as I usually do. I couldn’t even pretend in my head I ran like a gazelle. No matter, I told myself. Just keep going.
Soon I realized I was at the pace I could keep up for as long as I decide to. Mind you, I’ve never tested this theory. That is, I have never decided to keep going until I felt I could not keep going. In my army life, I was often called upon to keep going further than I felt I could. That was when I learned you can usually keep going further than you think you can. I never collapsed, passed out or had anything dramatic happen on a run. I often made horrible noises trying to breathe, but we needn’t get into that. I’m talking about now not then.
Where was I? Ah yes, shuffling along the sidewalks of Herkimer and having a not bad time about it. My legs complained but not too much. My breathing felt… not good but not actually labored. I didn’t make any bad noises. I ran for twenty-one minutes and felt pleased with myself. As I walked my cool-down, my legs seemed to have that soreness that means developing muscles. Score! Maybe I can run again tomorrow.
Mohawk Valley Girl 