05/19/11: Running the Keystone Trail

That's right, you heard me....RUNNING the Keystone Trail. Not walking, not crawling.....

:-)

I stopped by the group distance running group last night to hear the speaker. I didn't take my gear, I had no intention of running.

I probably should have....but, to be honest, I just didn't have it in me. I was feeling a bit defeated. But as I was leaving, and the group was getting ready to head out.....people started asking me if I was going. (I figured the work clothes would have answered their questions before they were asked...but apparently not.)

The group "coach" gave me a hard time. And the girl that I've teamed up with in previous group runs seems disappointed.

Damn. I felt guilty....but mostly, I felt like a quitter.

Sara, the girl I run with during the group runs, asked me if I was interested in running this morning. Yep, I've finally found someone else that gets up and runs at 4:30-5:00 in the morning.

I couldn't help myself, I said yes.

The whole way home I kept wondering what I was thinking. I had to walk my two mile run the day before...and now I've agreed to run with someone. I'm either going to have to walk or quit early on her. What was I thinking???

My alarm went off at 4:30, I slouched out of bed, into my running clothes, then into my car. We met at 5 am and off we went.

I was nervous before we started....as I told my body to start running, I winced and cringed...waiting for the pain.

There wasn't any.

I nearly shouted in joy.

We ran 4 miles before we had to call it quits and head home.

4 miles....running.....

Who'da thunk it? :-)

I got home, made myself a glass of celebratory chocolate milk (chocolate milk, oh how I love thee!) and iced my legs.

Instead of wrapping my legs, one at a time, with an ice pack....my PT gave me a little icing tip. You've probably all heard of this and have been doing it for ages....but to me, it was a revelation!!!

First, take a dixie cup....the small bathroom size are a little two small, so go for the kitchen size.



Fill it up about half way with water and freeze it.

When you're ready to ice, take it out of the freezer, and tear away the cup part, leaving enough to hang on to.



Then begin icing. Instead of sitting with ice packs on my legs for 15-20 minutes each....it takes 5 minutes (each leg)...and I'm done. It goes from feeling colder than heck, to the skin going a little red, to feeling slightly numb. The cold goes to the exact spot I need...and it takes less than 1/3 of the time (per leg).



I iced my legs, drank my milk....jumped in the shower, and headed to work.

I ran today. Now THAT'S a way to start the day off right! :-) :-)

(4 miles, 11.17 overall average pace)