Four hot, sweaty miles

I'm back!

I had about 6 weeks of a "look at me NOT running" phase, but that's over now. I rolled my left ankle in early June and had to take several days off to give it time to recover. Well, those few days turned into 6 weeks.

Thankfully, my guilt (and a little fear) about being registered for the Medoc Trail Races 10 miler in October brought the motivation back. I used the Smart Coach program at Runners World online and built an 11-week program to (hopefully) get me to the point that I will be able to survive the 10 miles. I realize it will involve a lot of walking (being on trails will be tougher and I'm way out of shape), but that's okay. It's going to be so much fun!

Today was a scheduled 4 miler and it was tough but I made it through it. It was my longest run in quite a while. I started a little later than planned so it was already hot by 9:30 a.m.. The first two miles on what I call the "big tree" route were definitely better than the last two miles. I ran the "cow pasture" route a couple of times to finish out the run and that includes the tough hill. Here are the splits from my watch (used the distance times from the nike plus which hopefully are fairly accurate).

mile 1: 12:36
mile 2: 13:07 (25:44)
[stopped & rested for a couple of minutes & sipped some water]
mile 3: 13:41 (39:25)
mile 4: 13:30 (52:55)

Still slow, but that's okay ... at least I put a few more miles on legs. My left foot did okay. I've been dealing with some tenderness since the June ankle sprain that I've self-diagnosed as peroneal tendonitis (gotta love the internet and the ability to google ... the symptoms are exactly what I'm experiencing). After a few days of RICE, I successfully tackled three miles the following Saturday. I managed to complete all three runs scheduled this week also.

I'm so glad that I'm enjoying running again. I feel so much better when I'm following some sort of plan. Next week includes 2 miles Monday, 3 miles Wednesday and then 5 miles Saturday. If I'm smart, I'll also add in some cross-training on the other days. Wish me luck!