TNRC

Our Tuesday Night Running Club is gaining momentum! We had a great time last night and got to celebrate our newest member's engagement in the process (congrats, Deb!!). It was the weirdest weather, it was cold and humid at the same time. I was slimy and had goosebumps at the same time. So gross. I felt like I was struggling a lot in the first mile but it ended up being a great run, my strongest yet. We did 4.77 miles and if we hadn't stopped at the end to talk for a few minutes with some people from Xfit who were running in the opposite direction our overall pace would have been in the mid-11s. All our miles were at a nice pace, certainly my best since surgery.



This was doing a 5 min running/2 min walking intervals the whole time. That's really not bad at all. We're going to keep working upward, next week we'll do 6/2, etc. Since we all have to build endurance for the Mudder in a relatively short time I proposed this method because it's worked for me before. The pace will come down eventually, it always does.

When we were getting ready to leave everyone had their headphones, probably out of habit. One of the women said "you're bringing headphones? I thought we'd be chatting." Of course we would be. I think it's new for all of us to not make running a solitary thing. Since there were 4 of us there was always someone to talk to and at the end when Deb and I moved ahead a little from the rest of our group (I was feeling strong and happy to take advantage of it!) I got to chat more with her.

I think this is going to be a regular thing. We're all seeing the benefits of running with other people. If the weather is shitty (and it has been the last 2 weeks) we all keep going instead of turning around. If we're tired there is someone to boost you up and tell you to keep going.

Today I did 3 because I go back to work tomorrow and I'm fairly certain I won't be getting up early (as if) nor will I want to do it when I get home. That works out well because that gives me Thursday and Friday to get ready for the weekend: the Tuff Scrambler on Saturday and then my long run on Sunday. I *might* do Xfit on Friday night but I'll modify it again until I'm fully comfortable. Now that I know the dissolvable stitches really are dissolving at this timepoint (6-8 weeks) I'm still afraid to do some of the aggressive movements. I miss those aggressive movements, like toes to bar or nice, heavy kettlebell swings but until I am sure I'm not going to rip something inside there's no need to push it. Running is the focus until January anyway.

That said, I'm not looking forward to Sunday. I didn't get a taper week because I was making up for lost time but it is what it is. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to keep happening. I'm realizing that if I was able to bounce back from surgery and 4 weeks off from everything and am making progress my heart and spirit will carry me through the runs that my legs don't want to. At least I hope...