That, baby. With good reason.
I was really nervous to get back out there. After nursing myself on the treadmill this week I was afraid to leave the safety of the basement and experience the road and hills again. I never used to give much thought to "what the hell happens if I get far away from home and can't make it back?" but that thought crossed my mind a lot once these plans for today were made. I honestly don't think I would have gone if my friend wasn't doing it with me. I got to our starting point first and I sat on a park bench questioning everything -- was I ready? Would I even be able to walk it? What happened if I didn't do it? What did that mean for the Tough Mudder and Goofy? When my friend got there I joked that I was already done so I was just going to go eat a bagel across the street. She said that was fine, she was going home. And with that, we knew it was now or never.
We got going and we picked a good strategy for intervals. We stayed with it the entire time, all 6 miles. I think that was a pleasant surprise for both of us. This was my friend's longest run so far and this was my re-entry into a training schedule. While both of us would have walked the entire thing for each other and never given it a second thought we seemed to have an unspoken agreement that we weren't going to let that happen today. We had a lot on the line and I think we fed off of each other's nervousness and determination to make it a resounding success.
We did this course back in June at the Branford Road Race. I remember a part of the race where my friend was not having a good time and we were making deals to get from one telephone pole to the next. Today we ran the entire length of that hill. The smile that broke out on her face when we crested the hill was one of the best things I've ever experienced on a run. Even better, when we were running up another hill her sister drove by and beeped. It was an incredible comeback for both of us -- her to a course that gave her a rough time just a few months ago, me to running after (as I'm now realizing) major surgery.
And with that, I'm on track for my training program for January. Even though today wasn't my fastest or strongest it was still well under the sweep time for Disney and that's okay with me. I hope (and expect) to get stronger and faster in the next 16 weeks and run 2 decent races at Disney but I also don't want to be hobbling around the parks for the rest of the week and ruin my vacation. Disney is such a low-key race. Sure, plenty of people run it for a Boston Qualifier because it's fast and flat but there's far more people who run it to be able to stop for a photo op with Jack Sparrow or Chip and Dale. The people I saw finishing around the 6 hour mark seemed just as happy as the ones who shot by at the 2. I think it's going to be just fine.
So I'm feeling good. For real.
Also, I think the hot tub sessions are really helping with the muscle discomfort. Every day is a new adventure in the mirror but today I noticed my scar line is higher. While that isn't something I'm thrilled about it means that I am standing up straighter and it's probably finally moving to where it will end up. She did tell me hip to hip and for the last 4 weeks it was surprisingly low but that's because I was hunched over and it had nowhere to go. I have a feeling things will be on the move every day now that I'm making a reasonable return to physical activity. This should be interesting if nothing else.
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