Recovery Run

Today was actually my third run since the Army Ten Miler. Tuesday I ran 4.5 miles outside and Thursday I ran 40 min on the TM. But today was my first run on the bike path since my spate of injuries in late September and early October–my one and only bike path run in October as a matter of fact. So, it marks a recovery from those injuries, and a recovery from a grueling week at work that culminated in a wretched aural migraine yesterday.

Today’s run just might have made up for all that. The weather was perfect. I felt great. Running 8 miles felt natural. It was glorious.

I got to the bike path at about 7:00 am, knowing that it would just be getting light by then. It was much emptier than usual since most running groups are focused on the Marine Corps Marathon tomorrow. The sunrise was beautiful–deep pinks rising over the trees on the far banks of the river and reflecting on the water. I took a video on my iPod Nano but can’t figure out how to get the darn thing onto my computer!

I walked about 1/3 mile to my usual starting place, stretched to loosen my back a bit, picked a playlist, and started out. My goal for the run was to have no goal, just run at a comfortable pace. I hit mile 1 at 10:05 which was actually pretty fast for a warm-up mile. I hit mile 2 at 9:49 and then every mile got faster, including some crazy miles at 9:15. My final average pace ended up being 9:35 min/mile which really is too fast for a “recovery” run, but it felt good and I felt good.