No Sweat

Maybe it was the new shoes.

Maybe, the hour body massage.

Perhaps it could've been the 4 day muscle rest.

Or then again, maybe it was the beautiful, cool breezy morning.

In any case, this morning's workout rocked.

I came out of the house feeling good this morning and my brisk walk was truly brisk. I love cool mornings like this, probably was in the 60's-70's range because when the breeze blew by I got shivers. It only took about 9 minutes to walk around and up the hill to start the run.

My first run surprised me. Normally, I huff and puff and just try to make it to the next mailbox. I was going along and all of a sudden - hey! There's the end of the street! How'd that get there so fast? And so it went. I walked until my calves felt untight and then ran again. No timing or even listening to an interval podcast, just pure outside running and walking.

And so I turned or corner and realized that I was running out of road, I was near my home. I did one last 1 min run so that I could have enough time to walk it off. And voila, it was done.

I entered the house cheerfully and felt great. I wasn't soggy sweating, maybe due to the cool breeze. But on the other hand, I didn't push myself to long runs because I did have brand new shoes on and I also didn't want to strain my calves in case they weren't fully recovered.

If all runs could be this fun, then I'd do this twice a day if I could.

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On another note, I spent the weekend being lazy and journeyed through the last 40 years or so of women's marathon running. We got a puppy who will be a future running partner. But for now, I sit with him and wait for him to have to pee and read Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer.

I devoured this book. It was well written, compelling and inspiring. I am so thankful that Kathrine was there at that time - a driven woman who had a true love of running. Where would the sport be now for people like me? Intimidating up the wazoo, that's where.

When I was in high school, my sister had gone before me and had been on the track team. There had been no question of IF a woman could be on the team, only if she wanted to take the time to do it. So in 8th grade, I joined up as a spinter. My track team stint was short lived because:

1. My shoes were stolen after the 2nd practice and we had no money for more
2. I joined a little late and was not as in shape for the practices. Can you believe that all they did was run back and forth? Gah.
3. I have a habit of starting things and not driven enough to finish. Until now, of course.

Anyway, the point is, there has never been a thought in my mind that women could not run when, where (at least in the US) and however they pleased. In fact, one of the best long distance runners on the team was a girl. It really floors me that about the time I was learning to walk and maybe run, women were just gaining ground in long distance running.

We've really come a long way, baby!

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