Baby Steps

Tuesday 5/1: Greenpoint & Williamsburg

Distance: 3.42 miles
Time: 0:30
Pace: 8:44
Temp: 54
Dewpoint: 36
Weather: Sunny

click on image for interactive map



Unique Miles Today: none!

This morning, I woke up early and decided it was time to give the legs another test. So I headed out, hit the sidewalk, and ran a big loop through Greenpoint and Williamsburg. No, I didn't log any unique miles, and I didn't even take my camera with me. But it was my first run on my home turf here in Brooklyn in over three months (though I'd done similar half-hour runs two weeks ago in Georgia and four weeks ago in Iowa), and I realized after a few minutes that I'd really missed it.

But here's the thing -- most everything hurt. My hamstrings, my ankles, my chest, my lungs, everything. Of course, I realize that most (if not all) of this discomfort was directly related to that whole fourteen-weeks-of-physical-inactivity thing. But I also find myself in a real quandary now, with the desire to resume my pursuit of "unique miles" (at least in a limited fashion) pulling me in one direction and the nagging suspicion that I'm not fully healed in the other. What's an obsessive runner to do?

Not a whole lot, apparently. It's not much, but here's what I've come up with: I'll see how I feel tomorrow and the next day. If everything seems in order, with no major residual physical effects from this morning, I'll shoot for a "real" Brooklyn run this weekend or early next week. It'll be a short one -- no more than a half-hour, or about 3.5 miles -- but I'll plot out a new route, take the camera, and generally try to ease back into things. It's pretty safe to say that I won't ever approach my mileage totals from last fall, when there were some weeks where I logged more than 40 unique miles, and at a 7:30 pace, no less. Creeping physical decrepitude is part of the reason, of course (and I've got yet another birthday this Thursday -- seems like I just had one), and after the number I did on my body last year I want to be particularly careful about not hurting myself again. But there's also the matter of the dissertation. Since the University of Iowa has seen fit to throw me a substantial wad of money to write the damned thing, I'm feeling a certain obligation to buckle down and do just that. What I hope, however, is that I can start getting back to a routine, maybe running three or four times a week. And of these three or four runs, I'd like to devote at least one (and hopefully, two) to visiting more neighborhoods, covering more ground, and just seeing more of Brooklyn.

Whatever happens, I'm sure I'll write some needlessly long post here with all the details. So stay tuned.