I ended up having the flu and couldn't run for a month. Then I tried to get back to it and within two easy miles something in the Tuberosity of the Tibia was giving me a shooting pain. Yeah. No idea. Off another month. And I felt as though I had nothing to really write about.
And I passed for my insurance license. So studying took up a whole month on its own.
But I'm here. It's March and another big storm is rolling in (?). Thanks Mr. Groundhog.
Lately, despite the nagging pain near the tibia, I've been meeting my friend from high school for Tuesday afternoon runs. We both get out of work around 4-4:30 and head over to the high school and then run around the neighborhoods. She's a senior still and has another track season of steeplechasing left. She's interning and misses practice on Tuesdays so I gladly accepted when she asked if I'd meet up to run.
Last week went well. Although I miscalculated the miles but about a 400.
So this time, I made sure we ran those extra 0.25 miles. She originally asked if I wanted to do a tempo run. I haven't done speed work in A WHILE. I've had a bunch of crappy things happen - the heart, the groin/hamstring pull, the flu, the shin injury. Yup. Laundry list. But I was willing to try based on how I felt. So we started off and I was having trouble breathing. But that's normal lately. I've been stuck on the treadmill. So we were cruising along and I settled in. I felt like we were moving, but just thought that maybe I was tired. We went by the other high school and a herd of high schoolers on skateboards went rolling by. The cloud of weed smell was overwhelming. We both laughed about it but I thought my clothes were going to smell of it that's how strong it was.
We also have some pretty decent hills that we hit on this run as well. So after one really big hill, I felt my friend start running faster. So I'm thinking "oh boy, I need to tough this out and just deal with being tired." I hung with it and then we hit our gradual uphill and then turned onto the last monster hill. I was getting my wind back and started to push a little so that it didn't seem like I was falling back. From there it was downhill until we hit the short, steep hill that went into the school lot. Now the boys ALWAYS pushed this hill when I ran with them in high school. So I pushed up it without thinking. It was a 5.76 mile run total - when done the right way. We ran it in 39:30. O_O Yeah. So the reason I felt crappy was because we were pushing hard. And my friend laughed because she thought she was getting tired and pushed so I wouldn't think she was backing off. And then when I surged up the hill she was beat too. So by accident we put in a hard run haha 6:52 pace was the end result.
My whole point of this was that it is so much better with a running buddy. We talk most of the time (minus when we're both sick/tired hahaha). But I was DREADING going back outside since my legs had been such a mess. Up until Christmas, I was up to 8 mile runs outside in my neighborhood. Then I was sick/hurt and on the treadmill to stay flat. Where I live, you can't escape the hills. So it was nice to have another person to chat with. This run literally feels like it's 15 minutes long. By myself it would probably feel like 2 hours. And, it was a solid workout, especially with the monster hills. We were both proud when we were done.
The even nicer part, this friend is an athlete I raced AGAINST in high school. And we were always pretty friendly. And now here we are. Running around and catching up.
So here's to running buddies!
My friend told a coworker that she had to get going because she had a running date. He goes, "Awww with your boyfriend?" and she laughed and said no. But running friendships are special and that's because runners share that same, pure love for the sport. It's easy to connect through such an intense, work driven sport and that's why road races are such a social event. It's what makes running so unique and special. I've made many connections through the sport. And it's easy! You can just be sitting at a game and someone overhears you say something about running, then they turn around and you start talking about various injuries - that old Achilles that keeps flaring up - or a great race you had two summers ago. It's common ground. It makes me happy that I picked to take it up as a sport.
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