Run middle-aged man, run!

Earlier this week I shared how I missed running and was considering lacing up my running shoes and adding it back to my fitness training curriculum.  

Was I full of hot air and merely engaging in wishful thinking? Like an out-of-shape middle-aged man who says he wants to get in shape and will start next month, while reaching for another Hostess Twinkie from his vast collection?

Well, sort of in that I said I would do it later rather than right now.  That’s the acid test.  If you say that you really want to do something, are you willing to do it right now?

Well I wasn’t but I did, a day later.

On the way home from work, I stopped at a park that had a good running perimeter with a loop distance of 1.06 mile.  I envisioned that my resurrected running would take the form of a jog, walk, jog cadence.  I didn’t know for sure.  Even though I’m in relatively good cardiovascular conditioning, each fitness activity is unique to itself and acclimation is required after a long layoff from it.

Don’t believe me?  Try doing burpees and learn the hard way.

Much to my pleasant surprise, I completed the about one-mile loop running nonstop in about eleven minutes.  It wasn’t super-easy but it wasn’t unbearably hard.  The kettlebell work I’ve been doing has definite spillover benefit. 

I was back in the game, running that is.

So, I decided to take in a round two experience this week and that’s what I did yesterday, except this time I went to a different park, one that like the last one has a good perimeter surface for running and with a loop distance of 1.02 miles.

I ran twice around for a total distance of 2.04 miles.  It took me 23 minutes and this surprised me as I thought I ran at a faster pace than my previous run.  But at an 11-minute plus pace, it was slower.  Again, it felt good so now I know there are more runs ahead in my summertime fitness training.

Now, every second or third workout I’m plotting, I’ll tell myself, “run middle-aged man, run!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum