A Runner, in Fact, Once More

While the world is awash in major events (most of them bad), my big event for the day is that I was able to run (slowly) for 32 minutes. I could have run more, but have gotten sensible in my old age.

While I still have quite a ways to go on my road to recovery from the quadriceps tendon repair surgery, being able to actually run was quite a milestone for me. I had been working up to it by hobble-jogging 100-600 yards at a time, but finally felt ready to do an actual run. So I did.

The last time I ran was 3/26/2009 so it has been a while. I was pleased to find that my endurance is actually quite good. While 32 minutes is not much of a run, I felt surprisingly strong despite the lack of running. Naturally, I credit this to the fact that I used an exercise bike starting right after my injury and then added water running as soon as I was able to do so. As such, I can say that doing these things really do help keep a person’s cardio conditioning going. I’m fairly sure that I have lost speed and endurance, but have not really put either to the test. I plan to run a 5K next week, mainly as a social run rather than as a competition. I’ve won the race before, but I do not foresee that happening this year. I’m hoping to achieve an honorable finish (that is, stay running the whole race).