My First Run

After spending a week hiking in Redwood, Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic National Parks Irfan and I felt pretty optimistic about our first run when we got back to Florida. According to the plan, we would get up first thing Monday morning and go for a short 3 mile run. 6am came and went, as did 6:30 and then 7. It was getting late and we were both still exhausted. We opted to just head to work and try running tomorrow.

Just the day before though, my cousin had called and asked me to come home and do a triathlon next weekend. "Are you kidding?" I thought to myself. I just ran a marathon last weekend and haven't run yet and have heard about the horrors of post marathon running. Before registering for the triathlon I would need to know if I could run the distance or not. Therefore it became imperative that I run, today! The triathlon had only 25 of 895 spots left, there's no time to wait.

Finally last night it happened. We got home around 6 and were out the door around 7. I'm not an evening runner at all, but there was no time to dally. It was hot, but mainly the humidity was the real killer. I kept thinking that maybe I could cut through the heat, pull back the curtain and step to the other side where it would be cooler. I was dreaming.

We started off slow to be sure we could run. Our IT band ached where it's reinserted just below the knee. It was only a dull pain, nothing too bad. We continued. Then, the lower half of the outside of our shins hurt. What is this? I've never felt pain there before in my life! Odd. We pushed on, legs tired, pouring sweat. By mile 1.25 my calves were tight and tired. Overall, I came to the conclusion that I was still tired, everywhere. On the other hand, we both finished the 3 miles we set out to do. We didn't finish with record pace, but we weren't that slow either. It was good.

We followed with a nice dip in the ocean. It was so warm it almost felt like a bath. It was a great night. And I signed up for the triathlon this weekend: 600 yard swim, 16.2 mile bike and 3 mile run. It will be challenging since I'm not really ready for it, but I'll give it a go anyway.