Long layoff finally ends

After a layoff of  some 22 weeks, I finally got back on the road again twice in the past week. The hiatus was necessitated by a foot injury incurred the day before the Kansas City marathon last October, and exacerbated during the race. The injury - inflammation of a toe joint on the ball of my left foot - required several visits to the foot doctor, numerous sessions with the physical therapist, an a long period of just waiting for the discomfort to evaporate.

I planned to start running on May 1 no matter how I felt. But, the weather on April 29 was perfect and I had the time, so I decided to move the timetable up a bit.

While most of the discomfort from the injury is gone, my foot still gets pretty sore if I'm on it too long. Walking, oddly, hurts it, but I'd noticed over the last few weeks that running a few steps actually felt fine. For that reason, I was fairly confident that I'd be OK if I just took it easy.

 I set my goal at 4 miles and decided I'd be happy with any time, as long as it could qualify as running. I settled into a pace of around 11 min. per mile and just held that for the whole distance. I half expected some negative effects from the pavement pounding, but it never happened. I did 4.1 miles in 44:30, and boy, it was a great feeling to run again. I've spent hours in the gym on the machines, so my fitness level was pretty good, but I was post-marathon sore the next couple of days anyway. I loved it.

I was back out on May 1 for 4.2 enjoyable miles, and this time averaged 10:15 per mile. My plan now is to run  a couple times a week and keep the mileage low. I doubt I will enter any races until next year, if the recovery holds. With a 237-mile end-to-end Katy Trail ride coming up in October, it's all about the bike this year.

Plus an occasional run.   -- Rob