Today (November 30) marks a month to the day after I very
nearly fell off the treadmill at a 8:30-per-mile pace when my left knee
suddenly went lame … And I’m thrilled to report that while I wouldn’t say I’m
back to where I was then, in marathon-training mode, looking to put in a
sub-four hour race of 26.2 miles, I would say I have returned to the idea of Running
for My Life.
As per instructions from my physical therapist, I am
carefully getting back to running. I started a week ago with five minutes at a
slow jog, and have been building up to today when I crossed the one-mile mark!
Hardly beating any records. In fact, I ran only 12 minutes, with one minute of “cooling”
down, and over that span I completed just 1.08 miles. But after how horrible I
felt the day before Halloween, I almost wept when I finished that sliver of a
run – and in no pain!
My goal is to keep building in two-minute aggregates, paying
close attention to how my knee responds. So far, I haven’t felt but the wee-est
twinges. Every other day I’ll be jogging along. Not running for my life yet,
which means going hard enough and long enough that it counts as a workout and
helps to keep that deep vein thrombosis bogeyman at bay. Still, I feel like I’m
on my way.
Next: Running for
Your Life: December Beginnings
