Dress Rehearsal

I awoke early today to the sound of a suburban bird choir. Spring now enters its first week of 70 degree temps and I was planning a walk today. I stretched for a few minutes, gave attention to my core and dressed in "running" clothes -- to go for a walk. I went downstairs, looked at the outdoor thermometer and saw something above 5 degrees, a good sign. I sat down and put on "running" shoes -- to go for a walk.

At just after 6:00 I left the house and began a spirited walk. As I walked, dressed as a runner, I thought about knee and foot pain and a doctor's appointment I have later today to look over my healing. As I neared the one mile mark in my walk, I began to wonder if I should try to run, just for the sake of collecting data for my doctor. I wondered, too, whether I would remember how to run. Everyone knows that you don't forget how to ride a bicycle, and I certainly didn't and have the grime on my chain to prove it, but what about running? I began to run, uneasily at first and then continued. It was pretty cool. Nothing immediately hurt. My expectation that my foot, would be still unhealed despite the passage of five months since I broke it, would crack was never met. My thought that my knee would seize up, lock in place and not allow me to go forward also never happened. I was running. Wow!

And, after 5 minutes, I stopped and resumed walking.

I walked for 5 minutes and then ran for 5 more minutes. No disaster. I walked 5 more minutes and then ran, again, for 5 minutes. All corners (ankle, hip, knee, and really foot) still attached and working.

And that was that. Three runs of 5 minutes each, had I even run a full mile in total, were now concluded. The data was collected and the experiment had been a success. As I walked home, I held out my hand and counted months to the dates of known marathons and had the thought that maybe I could be ready in time for October, or November or, how about maybe next February for the big birthday? What a fool. Those thoughts will have to wait, but what a nice way to spend a spring morning.

To be continued . . . .