30(+) Days In The Hole

Tonight I went for a run. It's been 31 days. Seems like six months. I'm not sure that I'm 100% yet. No pain but still not sure if I should have run or not. But some of the best decisions in life are made without 100% certainty. I do know with 100% certainty that if I had gone much longer without running I'd have gone insane.

I've never understood people who claim to be runners but rarely run. It's like a bird that cannot fly. We're defined by a verb. You can't be a "runner" without running. A week off is one thing. 30 days is quite another. I began to feel like a liar when describing myself as a runner. I wasn't getting fat and I wasn't getting soft. Weightlifting made sure of that. But a big part of who I am was missing. Some folks have to talk themselves into running. During these last thirty days I've had to talk myself out of running - several times. It was also tough to repeatedly turn down my running buddies when they asked me if I could join them.

So, tonights run? Nothing special. 4.4 miles, 31:06 total time (7:04 pace). I was so pumped up to be running again that I hit the 2.2 mile split in 14:28 (6:35 pace) and had to walk for about the first minute of the return. Only a runner knows the exhileration of your arms, your legs, your lungs and your heart all working in perfect synchronicity, and it was great to feel it again in the first half of the run tonight.

Once again, I'm a runner.