I started out with the best intentions, but it seems that my body has decided to veto the idea of running on a regular basis.
It began rather well. I tried to be careful not to over-work myself. All the experts warn that it's easy to do too much too soon. So I paced myself.
I decided to try for every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. I started on a Friday. It was hard. The first time was all about feeling my limits and how my body would respond. I'd walk for a few minutes, run for one, and repeat. I did the before and after stretches.
My body was clearly not used to this.
I skipped the next Monday and tried again on Wednesday. Much to my relief, it was quite a bit easier. And the iPod helped too, I'm sure. Friday wasn't bad either.
The next week, I walked/ran on Monday but noticed something odd. My legs were unhappy. There was pain. I've yet to accurately pinpoint it, but it's just below the front of my knees--I think. Anyway, it's not good.
An old college injury (nearly breaking my right ankle) also decided to remind me that it could bother me if it wanted to.
I took off Wednesday, expecting to be better on Friday, but I wasn't. In fact, I'm still not. It's now mildly painful to walk. Climbing stairs isn't fun either. I can do it, but I don't enjoy it. Actually, climbing isn't so bad, it's going down that gets me.
Needless to say, this is quite a setback. I'm going to probably go back to biking as soon as I can. I'll try tomorrow, but I'm not sure how my legs will react.
Grr.
I hate you, Murphy.
My ass has been dragging all day. I went back to bed twice. I got up at 9am, then 11am, then 2pm. It was really quite hot by then.
I showered and ate. Still had little energy. Did dishes, paid bills, and random other crap.
Still tired.
Watched TV.
Still tired.
Walked to the 7 Eleven to buy some Mt. Dew at 8pm. Noticed it was finally cooling off outside.
Poured it into a big frosty mug.
Energy!
If only I'd thought of this 9 hours ago.
I haven't had Dew in about a week, so don't call me an addict. :-)
One of the first blogs I began reading was Russell Beattie's Notebook. I don't remember how I found him, but I immeditately like his writing style and the fact that his posts often taught me things or made me think about something.
Go read his Vacation Time post. It's good to hear a U.S. citizen's perspective on the European approach to vacation time. They're a lot smarter than we are.
This caught my interest because I came very close to working for a European software company a few months ago. I'd have remained in the U.S. but would have still been on the stanard company vacation program--roughly 25 days per year. I have to say, it was difficult to pass that up. Not Russell is making me think about it again.