okay... things really are looking better now than a week ago. I turned up to track last night instead of swimming and did a little bit of faster pace running and also a good amount of just casual jogging around the track warming up and cooling down. felt great to be out running again... with people. damn great feeling.
As per Einstein’s recommendation, I held back and only did 8 this morning on the trails. It had rained over night and i started really late (7am) but the trails felt good and i got a little bit of a sweat on. Running felt a bit weird at first. Just getting back used to the motion of it. Also thinking far too much about it and not able yet to take my mind away and let the stride sort itself out. But it felt just great and amazing and wonderful to be out in it breathing in the air clipping along through the dirt.
Came up on a couple of ethiopians who were just doing an easy run and we said our hellos. Nice enough guys, although running next to them they make me look heavy set and quite overweight compared to their slight builds. I asked if it was alright if I ran with them, they gave me a quizzical look, I asked if I could pace off of them, the taller guy said, sure, follow him, he'll pace you... and the shorter guy just took off looking back waiting for me to follow. So I followed and he dragged me through half a mile and up to the top of a hill when we high fived and he waited for his mate and I ran along. He made running look so easy. But it felt nice to clear out the tubes every so slightly.
I'll do another 8 on the same trail tomorrow... and then if that feels fine... I'll join in with the hilly and concrete based 14mile slr this weekend. This planned is Einstein approved… Not the safest of choices: the safe choice would be to do 12 or 13 just out and back on the C&O canal cause it would be flat and soft... but I'd really like a run on concrete with other people to keep my mind on everything but the small details of running...
