Back At It...Finally!

Well, after five weeks of not being able/allowed to run, my doctor gave me the go ahead to get back at it. He actually cleared me last Wednesday. I'm not sure if it was fear or just laziness but I didn't get around to running until Friday. I was really concerned that it would feel like starting over again. Not that I necessarily minded starting all over again but we are running a 10k in about 4 weeks and I knew that there was no way I'd be ready for that if I had to start over.

Thanks to my wonderful physical therapists, my chiropractor and my teammate Ruth who passed on very helpful information about running form - I felt like I never missed a beat. Actually, I felt better and was able to run farther than ever before!

I ran for 20 minutes straight on Friday. If you run a lot, you know that running 20 minutes is nothing. This 10k will take at least an hour (for me, probably an hour and a half). But, I hadn't ran 20 minutes straight in my prior training. I had worked up to 9 minute intervals with 1 minute walks in between. So, for me, running 20 minutes was a big deal.

It was a crazy, busy weekend - Mike and I drove to Athens and back four days in a row. I wasn't able to run again till Monday. Even with the lack of sleep, the horrible food I ate all weekend and the McDonald's fries and sweet tea I had for lunch an hour prior to my run (not a good idea, by the way) I still felt great.

I'm hopeful about the 10k. I may not be able to run the entire 6.2 miles but I'm pretty sure I'll finish on my feet - and that's what I call a success!

Chrystal Murphy