Embrace the run

Embrace the run, embrace the hills.

4 miles today.

Fighting urge

3 miles. Foot feels better. Fought the urge to give it up today.

Morning Glory

3.1 at the track. Nice and easy, Kate and Sadie were there with me.

Track

3.25 miles on the track with Sadie. Fast by my current standards, felt pretty good.

Pick it up

I took Tuesday off and ran 3.5 miles today. Back to the sneakers because the top of my left foot hurts and I suspect it is due to over doing the vffs a bit. I picked up the pace today in a hilly route. It was nice to go a bit faster, but I have a long way to go.

Trying to stay flat

I tried to weave a few streets together to maintain a consistent even grade for today's run with moderate success. I hit 4.25 miles. I have not yet gotten to the point where my calves are not sore after a run with the vffs. As I write this I have some trouble walking correctly, though this will likely be much better by morning. Of course, this was the farthest co tiniest distance I have run while wearing them.

Can't avoid hills

Today I went out for 3.6 miles. I did the spoonhill loop twice and then tacked some extra on at the end. I wore the vffs for the whole run, and because this loops is either entirely up or downhill with no flat sections my calves got particularly sore. There is really no way to do a route from my house without it being mostly hills. I suppose that is a good thing, right?

Thursday and Sunday

I went out for an unpleasant 3.5 on Thursday. Was not feeling it. Then I took Friday and did 3.5 o. The treadmill today due to a snowstorm. Not bad.

Pleasant run

Today I drove over to the MHS track with Sadie, and once again our neighbor Justin and his dog Guster happened to be there. This was great, as I had someone to jog with and Sadie had a playmate.

We were forced to run nice and easy because half of the track was covered in a sheet of pure ice. The dogs had a little trouble figuring that one out. I ran 4 miles today, 2 miles with Justin and then 2 more miles on my own. It was probably best that I took it easy today, as I am still adjusting to a running schedule. Feels good to run.

3.1

3.1 miles today in a cold drizzle.

MLK Day

Though I feel stiff and sore from the past week of running (a light week by my old standards but a heavy week by my current standards), I got out there again today for a light 3 miles. It was much warmer than yesterday, though the temp still did not break 30 degrees. I am beginning to get a fairly good feel for how to string together different streets in my neighborhood in order to hit the appropriate distance, and I enjoyed todays run. Currently I am trying to strike a balance between getting back into running and not overdoing it too much early on. With the short distances I am currently running, I don't think am putting myself in too much danger.

Cold

Today I was back out there after a minor setback. Thursday was rainy and snowy, which worked out perfectly for my planned day off. On Friday I did an easy 3 miles with the dog, and I was planning on going out and meeting with a local running club, the Highland City Striders, for the first time Saturday morning.

Unfortunatley by the end of Friday I was not feeling well at all, with what looks like something related to my UC acting up. I have been back on my meds for that for a week because I have felt "off" for a while. Saturday things improved, and by today I seemed to be pretty close to normal. So I went out for 4 miles, which, though a long way from where I once was, was the farthest I have run in a while. 3 of those miles were in my VFFs. Those shoes do a number on my calves, but I can go longer and longer in them every time I run. I am becoming more and more hopeful that those shoes could help me a lot. My thermometer registered about 10 degrees F for todays run, but with the appropriate clothing I did not have a problem with it.

But back to the UC for a minute. One of my big running related fears is that I will have a major flare as I did 9 months ago and it will shut down my running completely. Also on my mind is the possibility that as my distance increases, long runs could actually cause the illness to act up. My hope is that it won't ... in some ways I plan on using it as in somewhat of a motivator. First off, there are people with this disease who suffer much much more than I do. Secondly, there are worse illnesses that one could be afflicted with. I am aware that as things stand now, I've been pretty lucky, and it wouldn't make sense for me to let it stand in my way.

I'll have more to say with regards to my running ambitions later on.

3 miles at the track

I ran 3 miles at the Marlborough High School track today, which is right down the street from our house. I brought Sadie, and she had a great time running with me and playing with our neighbor's dog, Guster. We have seen our new friends Justin and Kristy down at the track with their dog a couple of times now.

It has felt good to run five days in a row now. But I am definitely feeling sore, especially since I have been wearing vffs for half of each run. That coupled with the fact that tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so I am planning on taking the day off.

Four in a row

Today is my fourth day of running in a row. From Saturday until today I have run 3 miles each day, some of them with Sadie (our dog). So that is 12 miles over 4 days.