Friday.

FRIDAY.  A big day.  A HUGE day.

16 weeks and two days after my Achilles surgery, and, with the permission, dare I say the encouragement, of my physical therapist, I set out for my first two mile run.  

Yeah, I did it.

Piece of cake.  

I began a little faster today, at 5.1 (rather than 5.0) miles per hour, and, as always, increased my speed by .1 MPH every tenth of a mile.  I finished the first mile at 10:49.  Then I scaled back to 5.6 MPH to begin the second mile and again increased .1 MPH each tenth of a mile so that I finished the last tenth of a mile at 6.5 MPH.

Loud music blared in my ears as I covered the distance.  Good music.  Good running.  GREAT progress.  

The total run (as can be seen above) was 20:44.

Yeah.  Now we’re talking.

When one runs a mile, it’s a good thing, but when he pushed past that, and runs until the muscles in his legs start to really hurt, then he starts to feel like a runner again.

I felt like a runner today.

It takes some focus and determination to push for more than twenty minutes.  It’s a big step to take.  

In 183 days, I’ll be running the New York City Marathon.  On that day, I’ll be running for well over four hours.  A twenty minute run at that time will seem like child’s play… but for today it was a huge mountain to climb.

Ever forward.

I am feeling like a runner again.  

I can’t wait until I can once again feel like I could run forever (and know I can)!