Just what I needed

Yesterday's run (or as John called it "nice, leisurely jog") went really, really well. We're in the middle of a cold front so I decided to forgo the treadmill and take my chances on the 3 mile loop around the apartment. John went with me for moral support and when we headed out after dinner it was a blissful 68 degrees. I wore my compression sleeve and set off with the mindset that I was just going to take it easy, enjoy the night, and not have any expectations. I took it as a good sign that the first song to play on my ipod was Led Zepplin's "Fool in the Rain" which is my un-official theme song for White Rock.

My shin was a little bit sore when we started running but I don't know if it really was more painful than normal or if I was just hyper-aware of looking out for any little twinge. I tried to relax an just listen to the music and before I knew it we were rounding the halfway curve (which incidentally is the same spot two weeks ago where I started bawling my eyes out). I took a moment to appreciate the fact that I wasn't crying and continued grooving on through the rest of the run. Although we were running at what sometimes felt like a ridiculously slow pace we ended up finishing the loop in 28 minutes. I was pretty dang happy with that. We came back home and I did some stretching, albeit probably not as much as I should have, and iced my shin. I had forgotten to put my gel packs back in the freezer before we left so I ended up using a bag of carrots (that we ate for dinner tonight) and a bag of strawberries. I think I got the same effect and the dog was desperately sniffing around my legs the whole time!

I'm still feeling pretty good today, a little soreness but again I think it may just be because I am obsessing about it. The weather is gorgeous and I really want to run again tonight so but I am trying hard to stick to the only running every other day schedule so I am doing some reading instead. I'm still trying to remain cautiously optimistic about the whole thing but it felt so. dang. good. to be out there running again last night! Here's hoping I can continue to heal and have many more good runs in the future!