Today was a day that I questioned was even possible just a few weeks ago. Today I ran a 5k race (Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Sprint to Success) for the first time since October 25. It was the first time since November 5 that I ran a distance that long. It was the first time I've run longer than 2 miles since returning to running in January. I knew when I departed the house this morning that it might not have been the smartest idea, and yet I went anyway.
I went with intentions of "going slow" and taking it easy. The last thing I want to do is injure myself or take a step backward. But shortly after the starting gun I headed out on the course and felt good. Since it was a loop course I had several opportunities to drop out if I decided to.
As I got closer to the halfway mark and then into the second half of the race I knew I was feeling pretty good. I had very few issues with my wind and despite some rubbery feeling in my legs I pushed on. When it became clear that I would have a good time I was feeling good about my decision to run today.
Crossing the finish line in 21:44 was better than I could have imagined. I expect to deal with some possible pain and discomfort come tomorrow or Monday, but I think I've cleared one of my hurdles on this long road to recovery. Still, there is work to do, but for today I will enjoy this.
3 comments:
congratulations and awesome job out there!
i'm not sure if i've posted before but i've been following your blog for a while ... all throughout your injury at least ... and now that i am injured myself (tibial stress fracture), i find it comforting to read about other people returning to running and racing.
congrats again :)
Thank you very much. I'm actually shocked that there are people (and people I don't know like yourself) who are reading this. This whole process of coming back from this has been nothing short of hell, but it has helped me to understand what is important. Feel free to post any time. And if I can be a source of help in any way, I'll be glad to share what worked for me. The running community is something else.
Vince, nice to hear that you ran a 5k successfully - definitely on the comeback trail now! Keep it up.
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