Who's the what?

Week two is complete! A good walk on Sunday, then three steady miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each. Then, this morning, seven miles in delightful 64 degree Arizona weather! Sounds great, huh?

Yeah, that's because you don't have my calves. This was the week (if you follow me on Facebook you heard this complaint) my body caught on to what I was trying to make it do. My three miles were good, and I kept the "think light, think easy, if you are working too hard you are doing it wrong" pace I planned to (between 9 minute or 9:30 miles). However, the calves were a bit whiney about it. Then this morning (Saturday) came the bog seven.

I haven't run seven miles since I was in Monterey CA the first time 16 years ago. I was doing a regular six before my calf tear in Washington, but seven is psychologically a bit different. Nevertheless, committed to this insane path I have chosen, I set out this morning about 7:30 to do what we call 'The Mall Loop' in Sierra Vista (about six) and and extra mile for fun. It is a nice run- good trails and paths, though all paved, it is smooth and away from traffic. There are good variations in uphill and downhill, and should something snap, break, grind, or quit, it is not so far for the lovely Jennifer to come drag my crying corpse back to home.

Had an odd experience with it today. I got to two miles- not much considering, and the calves were tight. Not screaming, but argumentative at least. Then they shut up and let me run. Then, around three miles my hip started to ache. I pushed on through, and it shut up too. Then, at mile four, my left foot began to tell me my arch hurt, while my right calf began to ache around the area of the tear. I steeled myself, adjusted my stride and kept on. Then came Mile Five, I worked through it and as I finished my fifth mile, it all fell away.

Suddenly, with two miles left, I felt like I just started running. My body felt fresh and ready, and even though I was running uphill, I started making better time than I had when I started. I finished strong and happy, and enjoyed a nice breakfast with chia seeds and peanut butter with some yogurt (replenished protein at lunch with some salami (gosh that sounds dirtier than it should) ). It was like my body said "fine, you aren't giving up, we'll stop throwing pain at you." I have no doubt the various parts which make up my physical presence are going to ambush me again at some point, but this week, today at least I showed them who was boss.

Though I really hope running doesn't turn me into Tony Danza.