Running Free

Usually Kris and I run on opposite days. It works great because Heather gets a good workout everyday. But today our running days fell on the same day. Kris has been getting home before me lately. So he and Heather were already well into their run by the time I got home.

I changed from my work clothes as fast as I could. I was hoping to get out soon enough that I could find Kris and Heather on their route. I grabbed the door knob to head out just as a sweaty Kris opened it returning from his run. 

Heather ran for her water bowl while Kris and I greeted each other. After quick, ‘How are you doing?’  and ‘How was the run?” I said, “See you in about an hour.” and tried to get out the door. 

Well, Heather heard this and came running. She still had her flash collar and leash on from the run she did with Kris and she was trying to follow me out the door! She was ready for more! Good gracious!

I left her at home. We exercise her a lot and we didn’t think she needed a double work out. (Ceasar Milan may disagree). 

I can’t remember the last time I ran without Heather. It was different running with out having to keeping track of her. It was a little free feeling. I just ran and didn’t have to think about anything. Which meant I thought about a lot of different stuff. But I did miss having her with me. 

I’m finding that the 10 minute warm ups are much better than the 5 minute ones. I had a great run. I ran a lot longer in one stretch which means I did a lot less walking. This got me thinking about my knees. 

I had mentioned in my previous entry that my knees had been hurting and it may have been because of my extra weight. However, I suspect my mindset was driven by the unusually high level of stress I’ve been dealing with lately. When I get depressed or stretched to my limit in some way, I get more sensitive about my weight. Too bad. 

Anyway, not only have I increased my mileage, but I am not taking walking breaks as much. I used to program a workout into my Garmin that would alert me to run for a certain time and then walk for a certain time. 

When I started to really feel good running I stopped using the Garmin and just ran free style. I ended up running more than usual. So on top of running longer distance and taking less walk breaks, I have also been running on cement much more than dirt lately. This is because the field we like to run in is just a nasty bog with all the rain we’ve been getting. 

All of this could certainly contribute to my knee pain. 

So, I think I’ll start using my Garmin again. I also might take my weekday mileage back down to 3 miles twice a week with two 2 mile walks on the off days and another 3 -4 mile run on the weekend until I build up more. 

That should help the knees and keep me on my distance target of 500 miles this year. 

I checked my current mileage for January and I’ve already ran just over 35 miles. I just have to do six over the rest of the week and I am on target for 500! 

Easy peasy!