Yesterday was supposed to be my last one-mile run before ramping up to a run of 1.25 miles as I steadily progress…
But progress, or success, and even life itself, doesn’t always go in a straight line. Progress is not always forward. Sometimes, in order to go forward, we need to take a step back.
For this post, I’ll cover my last two runs. It’s basically the same story in so many ways.
Two days ago, on Tuesday, April 14, I went out for my second one mile run. This was the second time I would actually run the full one-mile distance. The run itself felt better than on Sunday, and my time indicated I did much better. I finished at 9:25. That was significantly faster than the effort on Sunday. I was pleased and proud.
I just ran my fastest mile in a very long time.
9:55.
Now, those who are following (and keeping track) of my journey through this blog might recall that I ran a mile on Friday in 9:02. I was 53 seconds slower today, so how was today my fastest mile?
There is a very simple answer…
The fact that I am writing right now says a lot about my enthusiasm for this run today.
It’s not that I don’t want to run. I do. I wanted to run last night, but the locked gate ended that idea.
No, I want to run. I do. I just don’t like running when it’s cold and wet outside and… it’s cold and wet outside.
Well, I can keep this post short.
Today was supposed to be the day I attempted the mile.
I didn’t.
They finally locked the track. (We could call this post, “Locked Out.”)
I’ll try for the mile tomorrow, but I’ll either be out on the roads or on my treadmill. I think I’ll go outside so the speed is more natural, and not determined by a machine or the speed I set the machine at.
I’m disappointed. I wanted to do this on a track… today. But, such is life during a pandemic.
Until tomorrow…
It was bound to happen.
I’m a runner. I love running. But, I didn’t want to run tonight.
Well, I am falling onto a nice pattern, running every other day, just like when I first became a marathoner about 18 years ago. Back then I strictly followed the marathon plan in the great book The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer. That plan called for three or four runs a week – basically every other day. In the years since then I became a sometimes every day runner and other times a five-day-a-week runner. In my prime, when I set my marathon PR in Chicago (2006) (boy, that was a long time ago…) I was peaking at 50+ mile weeks.
But, for now, I am an every other day runner and my distances don’t compare.
It’s all part of the process.
It’s a good process.
Today was Day #2 of my running comeback.
My goal was to run a half mile without stopping. I measure all my runs in distance, not time, but my physical therapist wants me to run just in time increments. Her recommendation was for me to run for five minutes.
My goal was a half mile.
In the end, it was basically the same thing.
Twelve weeks ago I arrived at the surgery center, walking in, knowing that I wouldn’t be walking out, and, in fact, that I wouldn’t be walking at all for quite some time.
When I checked into the surgery center, I told the receptionist that I was there to begin my training for the 2020 New York City Marathon. She smiled and said, “You must be Mr. Semendinger.”
Indeed I am.
I hobbled out of the surgery center on crutches my foot wrapped and in a heavy boot. The surgery was a success.
It’s a strange feeling, learning to walk again. Because of the surgery to repair my right Achilles tendon, I went about seven weeks without walking.
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