Getting there, one small run at a time

First of all, let me say that I'm totally in awe of all those who ran Chi-town last week. The conditions (from what I've read) were brutal and hats off to those who finished in spite of the odds!

Far from racing excitement, I've had some short and easy but good runs these past couple of weeks. "Good" by my definition meaning: with little post-run pain, that just about goes away after a solid 15 minutes of rolling and stretching. This is good news, but if there's anything I've learned from experience, it's to be cautiously hopeful.

Last week, in a desperate attempt to let go of my road-run phobia (I've had some traumatic limping experiences), I dragged myself out for a 4-mile test run. All good (well, almost) till at one point, I had to jump onto the pavement to avoid crashing into a fruit cart (one of the many joys of running in India). Jumping onto pavements = very bad idea. Thankfully, post-run rolling and stretching dulled out most of the pain...I'm almost sure that's a sign of improvement. Then again, I logged a short pain-free (yay!) 30-min treadmill run and a longer 60 mins on Sunday afternoon (hurty during the last 20 mins).

Having tried out various combinations of time, pace, incline, and surface, I've come to realize that I might still need to do most runs on the treadmill, stick to 30-45 minutes (maybe do 60 mins once a week), keep the incline at no more 1% and an easy pace. Of course, I'll be doing outdoor test runs every now and to gauge my progress (and eventually transition). So that’s that. Far from where I would like to be, but still hopeful that some day, I can join in the racing fervor. Yes, progress has been slow, but I just might be able to pick up the pieces once again. There's a faint bit of light seeping in through that pinhole...