Returning to Running

Over the last few weeks, I've spent almost no time running, and a lot more time studying.  Now that exams are over, I'm getting back to running.  The first thing I did today was go on an easy run with a friend.  Together, we ran about 1.5 miles.  Afterwards, I went on my own little run, running around 4.5 miles.  After having a good break, I took a nap and then went out and ran 6 miles with the running club in Knoxville.  Altogether, I ran 12.27 miles, and it was fun.  My muscles are pretty tired, but I'm excited for what tomorrow has in store for me.

When you're getting back into something, you can't jump in and go hard core because when you do that, you actually can end up hurting yourself or tiring yourself out.  In my doing this amount of running, I probably pushed a little too hard... but I'll find out tomorrow whether or not it was too hard.  The thing about this running thing is that my break wasn't too much of a break.  Sometimes, people take small breaks and are afraid of jumping in because they recognize that they've been out for a bit... but in reality, it's their knowledge that prevents them from excelling as much as they could.  Others will see this break as nothing and jump right into what they were doing before... and end up hurting themselves.  Finding the happy middle is where we all ought to be when getting back into things.

I believe I know myself pretty well and understand what the break did to me.  The important thing for me is to not push myself because I fall into the 'push myself' category.  Knowing myself is good, but playing as close as I can to my limit... can be a little dangerous.  When returning to running, I ought not to play so dangerously... but I do because THAT is how much I want to get back to what I was doing and do that as fast as I possibly could.

Let's see what tomorrow brings and how dangerous I could play this game.