Learning New Things

I currently seem to be on the every-other-day workout plan. Which, frankly, isn't much of a plan. Yesterday I almost talked myself into getting up and out for a walk, but somehow I talked myself out of it. Oh well. Oddly enough, I did wake up bright and early this morning in order to get out and go. The truth is that today was Drew's first swim lesson (!), so I walked with him to the Y and then I headed into the Park for my walk.

I decided just to walk along the Bridle Path this morning. And I learned something new! That even though dogs can be off leash in the mornings in the Park, that they have to be on their leashes at all times on the Bridle Path. Of course, the other thing is that no one pays attention to that rule. I am always a little intimated when big dogs are running around on the Path, even though they're generally chasing a ball, I'm always a little nervous they're just going to come up and bite me. After I found out this new rule, I felt like yelling at everyone I saw that they were breaking the rules (I didn't actually do that).

I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor strap today, so I had to go off my perceived effort today. I knew I wasn't going as quickly as I was on Saturday, but part of that is due to the difference in walking on the Road and walking on the Path. There is just so much more to be careful of on the Path - dips, rocks, mud, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just makes for a different walk.

I just kept passing runner after runner (or, more accurately, they kept passing me) and I was just thinking about wanting to run. It really wasn't that long ago that I really didn't love running. It's funny how quickly that can change. I think that I really started to appreciate the simplicity of running after half-marathon training and starting to train for triathlon again. There is just something so easy about grabbing your shoes and heading out for a run. There is also something very cathartic (to me, at least) about getting out some frustrations while running. It's just such a good time to think!

So, I have to confess, I was getting a little down in the dumps about not running, so I decided that I'd just let myself run. Not a lot, maybe about 100 yards, but enough just to get the ants out of my pants. And it worked. I felt a lot better that I could still run! Even if it was really ridiculously short. Something about it just changed my mood. Three weeks of healing down ... hopefully only 3 to 5 more to go!

Time: 1:00:00
Distance: 4.60 miles
Pace: 13:02/mile