On the road again

For the first time in two weeks I was running down the road again this morning. A couple of Saturdays ago I came up lame on a pedestrian five mile run. Around the two mile mark I developed a cramp in my right calf. I slowed a bit with the hopes of working through it. That was my first mistake. But when on the home stretch it felt like someone had given the screw another turn and I kept going, that was my second. I limped for a couple of days as penance for that display of maschismo. I spoke with our school's athletic trainer about it and after a quick examination she said it was in the area of the gastrocnemius and gave me a number of stretching exercises to try. "You know, at our age," she remarked, "we recover slower." Thanks for the reminder.

When I don't run at least two things happen: I feel discombobulated and I gain weight. Over the past 14 days both have happened. While you'd have to check with my wife, I think I've been okay around the house. But me living with me has not been pleasant. I generally like myself warts and all but not when I can't run. Then I feel like a slow, blob of fat moving down the street and as proof in the past two weeks I've added four pounds to my frame. So this morning when I put on the shoes and went for an easy 2.5 mile loop out to the old Breezy Bay resort and back without any pain whatsoever, I felt great. I wasn't even winded. Grey and overcast as the sky was suddenly the sun had broke through.

The last few years running has become such a spurty-thing with me. Case in point in 2011 I ran a total of 726 miles, in 2012 I ran just over 1,300 miles (my largest total in thirteen years of running) and at the time of this latest injury I have accumulated only 475 miles for 2013. This year I had talked about at least doing a marathon (I haven't run one of those since 2008) and maybe an ultra (I did the Chippewa Moraine 50K just last year). Now I'm just hoping to finish the year strong and weighing under 200 pounds. I started the year slow because of an injury I got on a run in December of last year and then have had struggled with recurring bouts of life interruptus. My mechanic tells me its a chronic-thing.

But not this morning. It was a brisk 33 degrees. I had to dig the tights out for the first time since last spring as well as my winter running hat. But with the theme song from Pirates playing on a soundtrack in my mind as I recrossed the long bridge and headed for home, I was feeling absolutely marvelous and happy to be out there once again.