When is 15 min a success?

When you've been out of commission for weeks on end. When you are able to run for 15 min straight with the dog on a Friday morning with just a bit of pain. And then when you follow it with two 40+ minute bike rides and a 25 min run/walk on Saturday.

But when you add 20 min to that 15 and run for 35 min on a somewhat hilly dirt path on Sunday and walk for about 20 more, it's not quite success. As much as we want things to heal when we wave our magic wands, they don't always follow suit. I'm resisting making an appointment with the phys therapist. I figure Europe will afford me three weeks of constant walking with a 50lb backpack and no time for running. I think we call that active rest, right?

While the knee hurts and is clearly swollen, I truly think all this work with yoga, weights and working on balance more the past few weeks is starting to help. I want to make a concerted effort to keep it up. After all, injuries allow us to test our limits in other physical aspects like balance, flexibility and core strength.

My friends keep saying "hey, you ran a marathon a few weeks ago. Your body's still recovering." But I know better, or rather I know what I expect from my body and once you've reached a month since you've run a marathon, it's no longer a viable excuse. I just have to exercise patience and luckily, with all the stress at work, I don't really have the time or energy to be irritated with my running. I guess I'm back to 15 minutes.

Europe countdown: 18 days!

Comments

Siri said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said…
Ooh your vacation is so soon!! how exciting :)

I can't imagine being told Not to run - its one thing when you're resting and Choose to take time off, but it's probably harder when it's not Your choice. After these next two races I'm looking forward to scaling it down a little bit. My legs would definitelyyy appreciate it.

I hope you heal up sooooon!

Popular Posts