Sunday, July 11, 2010

"A little ray of sunshine"

I woke up this morning with unbelievable excitement, today was my first day back running. I went to bed last night thinking that I was going to have to postpone as rain had been predicted for the whole of Sunday. But as the skies started to lighten, I realised that there were patches of clear sky and the sun was shining through. This was definately a good omen, or atleast that's what I was telling myself.
The clouds were still looming as I approached the run site but I knew they would hold out for me. Today was my day and the rain god's were going to hold out for me, I could feel it in my bones "no pun intended". I was quietly having words with my hip and groin, my shins and my knees and telling them to behave. For them to cut me some slack, I have been behaving and now it was their turn to reciprocate some niceness. After all I have been looking after them like a new born baby.

Susan and I started off with a nice 5 minute warm up walk, so far so good. I know, what's a 5 minute walk and why is she saying so far so good! But I was reading into everything today, looking at how I walked, placement of feet, torso and core and making sure I was doing everything right. As I took off for my first 1 minute run I had this brief thought flit across my mind of picking up the tempo from where I left off. WRONG. This had to be slow, very slow even though my body felt good.
As we ran along the dirt track I was amazed at how smoothly I was running. And as a result of not feeling any pain I got to admire the scenery along the way. I love this track, its quiet except for the chirping of birds, ducks and water hens. Oh and of course the incessant chatter of two women. This track is exceptionally beautiful in the summer, all the trees shade this path and it makes for the most magical run ever.
Anyway I finished up having done 6 x 1min runs at a very slow pace and the remainder of the distance we just walked. What a great way to start my Sunday. As we finished the clouds came over and it started to rain. I had been blessed today, not only because of the sun that shone while I ran, the good company I had, the beautiful scenery but also because I finished with absolutely nothing hurting at all. My hip and groin feel fantastic.

I got home stretched and iced everything and now its just a waiting game to see if all pulls up okay overnight. But so far so good.

Your hard work will be rewarded.

"The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And though it has many stumbling blocks along the way, and may go in more than one direction, it is travelled by belief and courage and conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances" Barbara Cage