It felt like it had been forever since I did a long run. I set my stuff out the night before but still hadn't decided on where I was going to run until I left the house. I went to Starkey park and brought my bike so I could warm up before running. I rode the bike around for about 10 minutes before stretching. The air was a chilly 58° with a little bit of fog in the air. I saw a deer while riding the bike. I was dressed for running, not bike riding so it felt quite chilly while I was riding.
I walked down the path to the main bike trail. I chatted a bit with a guy I had run into before who was going to do 14 miles. I was hoping to get 10 miles done today. I started running, very slowly at first. I saw the man with the well behaved doberman. I'm not sure what time he starts but he's always on his way back when I see him. It hurt a little bit but felt like it might loosen up. It got better after a mile. At 3 miles I ran into Eudair coming back from her run. I hadn't seen her in quite some time. We chatted for a few minutes and then I got going again. That was the first test, I was afraid it would be tough to get going again after stopping but actually it felt easier. At 4 miles I was feeling even better and was soon at 5. Sometime around 4 miles, Eudair's husband came zipping by on his bike and said hi as he passed me. I decided to keep going until I hit 6 miles. It felt good but I was a little bit afraid that I would pay for it on the way back. I turned around and started back. 7 miles, so far so good. Now the sun was up and it was getting a bit warmer especially in the open areas. At 9 miles everything was still good. Actually it felt pretty good until sometime just past 11 miles. Both my legs were hurting but not due to my injury, just from the lack of running. It wasn't terrible but I was glad when the run was done. The temp at the end of the run was 76º . I stretched for a bit then headed home and swam in the pool about 15 minutes to try and loosen up. So, it wasn't my best run ever but considering the circumstances it was a great run. In some ways it felt like I was "back" but then again I'm not quite there yet. Hopefully I can have a good recovery tomorrow and be ready for a shorter run on Monday. Average pace: 9:05 | 