My Journey With Health And Fitness – So Close

I went to a fun event for lunch today. One of the organizations that I volunteer at throws a volunteer appreciation event each year. There is always prizes and raffles and some sort of party game. This year was a build your own french toast buffet meaning there were all sorts of toppings that you could put on the toast. Of course my sister and I were proactive and brought our own sugar free syrup as we knew that would not be one of the toppings offered.

Today was the day, 1st attempt at running 10km since I blew out my ankle more than 18 months ago. Now you have to picture, it was cold this morning when I headed out just before 5am. I was careful with how I dressed since I didn’t want to get into the run and get too hot. But knowing how much I dislike getting really cold I made sure to wear my toque and gloves. Of course since it was pitch black out I was wearing my flashy vest.

As always when I run I walk the kilometer down to the beach before I start running. I didn’t use to do this but as it is a downhill walk (and of course uphill coming back) and I don’t want to run that part as I am very cognizant of being gentle with my ankle. Once I get to the beach I complete the run then walk from the beach back home. Both those walks give me the chance to warm up then cool down. Again, I think this really helps with keeping the ankle happy.

Before I left I planned my route so that I can calculate the distance. Before 10km was easy, walk a couple minutes, run down the hill, along the promenade including the pier then run back up the hill to home. It was precisely 10km. So today with not running up or down the hill I decided to run the pier twice and double back a few blocks on the promenade. I felt fairly confident it would work out to 10km.

The run felt good and once I started I didn’t feel the cold except on my face. I wasn’t counting how far I had to go, I just ran enjoying listening to a book. When I finished the run I walked up the hill at a pace as fast as I could. Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked my Apple Watch to learn I had only run 9km. What??? Ok, I’m still pretty proud of that accomplishment as I didn’t find it horribly taxing, I just ran. I’ve been back to running for a little over 2 months so to be at this level already makes me feel good.

Since today is Saturday I normally would scale it back a little but I have run/walked nearly 29k steps for a total of 17.5km. Next week it will be 5km/7.5km/10km runs which I hope will be my schedule for the rest of the month and that I can continue it during my next trip to Mexico.