First Run in Two Weeks

Due to a non-run related injury I sustained while standing up from the dinner table in a restaurant two weeks ago, I have been taking a break from running to allow my knee to heal. I hurt something in the back of my knee which was causing me a lot of pain and the more I ran, the more it hurt. Taking the past two weeks off was hard psychologically, but I was finally able to get back out on the pavement last night, and it was great! I decided to run it easy: four steps breathe in, four steps breathe out. It worked. It was a sloooooow pace, but it was comfortable, and I was able to do 3.2 miles with relative ease. Sure, the last mile was tougher than the first two, but not so tough that I considered stopping. To the contrary, as I finished, I almost contemplated going a bit further, but decided against it as the last thing I need is to re-injure myself on my first run back.

Pace: horrible. Feeling: great. It’s good to be back at it again.

The only down spot for me is that I am still unable to do push ups. I have a hurt tendon in my left elbow that is not getting any better. In fact, I may be seeing a doctor about it soon. The pain comes back from doing mundane things like bending my arm or lifting a pen. Something is definitely not right in there. I need to get that fixed ASAP because I have an APFT coming in April, and April will be here before we know it!

All in all, I feel good. My weight has responded very quickly by dropping a solid 3 lbs from the morning (partly water, partly stool, and partly just eating right). I’m very close to my happy zone in terms of weight, which also makes me happy. I look forward to Wednesday’s run. I won’t be doing anything toward pace or speed; I’m actually going to work on increasing distances for a while before I start working on speed. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I can spend a bit more time outside running without fear of negatively impacting my health.