Back in the goove

Today was just a 3 mile recovery run. The cool part is my body is starting to remember it's a runner again.

I guess I should explain. The last running I did was the Los Angeles Marathon (March 2, 2008) and the California Half Ironman (March 29, 2008). I was feeling really beat up and moved all my training to just riding my bike, had a century in April coming up, and some of surfing. The century came and my diabetes decided that was the day it would not let me ride. I had a 320 BG in the morning at 3:30am. I pumped extra insulin the whole way down to San Diego for the ride. At the start I got the BG down to 180, not great but it would have to do. But every time I climbed a hill (big and small and San Diego is all hills) my blood sugar would go high again and I would feel like I’m going to throw up. I was really concerned and cut the ride at 50 miles. I think the disappointment and over training lead to some depression and a two month rest.

My wife told me that she was tired of me being a stick in the mud and signed me up for the Long Beach Marathon in October. I went out for a 7 mile run with my son, who is in Marine Corp shape, and barley finished the run with several unscheduled walk breaks. I realized I would have to start from scratch building my endurance. Each run since has been like pulling teeth. I’ve been fighting shin splints and tight calves. Today was the first time I really got into the run. I was running and not thinking about my legs and lungs. I was enjoying the grace and glide I was feeling.

It’s funny how things change depending on your current situation. When I started running in 2004 I was impressed that I could run 2 miles after several weeks. When I got up to 8 miles, something I had not done before as a runner (yes we shuffled for 10 miles in the Army but it was different), I was totally amazed that I was running such long distances. Last year an 8 mile run was an EZ recovery run or something I would put 4-5 miles of tempo work in the middle of. And the long runs were 18 to 25 miles. Now an 8 mile long run is scheduled for this weekend and I’m exited like this is my first time. Lots of things you could think and say about this, I’m just happy to be running again.