The first lap running on the rectangular track feels very nice, but then somewhere around two laps I’m asking myself “Do I really have to run all nine laps of this mile?" At three it’s getting better, and I’m thinking “good, I’m one third done." At 4 ½ laps it’s “hey, half done.” Then the laps click off more easily and I’m counting them down rather than up, just over a minute apiece. Four laps left, three, two, and I’m wondering if I can just keep going after the ninth lap.
Golly gee, I feel OK at nine laps and keep right on going. Now looking for excuses to stop short of two miles. Do I need to go to the bathroom? Nope - no excuse there. How about pains - does anything hurt? No such luck, still no excuse. Am I at risk of hurting myself? Probably not, but maybe I should only do a mile and a half today just to be safe, and try two miles in a few days.
So I stopped running at a mile and four laps, walking the remaining five laps to finish off the mile. Good run, no pains.
These days I’m walking and running most days that I can. Sunshine and I have been busy with eye surgeries, which are incompatible with running for at least a week afterward, and we have had our share of colds, so I’ve only gotten to the track 14 days so far this month. On the advice of my therapist I don’t run two days in a row, but walking is OK and I walk pretty fast.
I’m still nursing the hamstring tendon injury that first appeared last May, but running the mile doesn’t hurt, at least not at the speed I’m doing now. The plan is to increase distance and speed very gradually, paying close attention to that injury, and travel to several states’ Senior Games track meets over this year, hoping to qualify for the National Senior Games in Albuquerque in 2019. I can already run the 1500m (just short of a mile), and will get faster at that distance. I hope also to be able to run shorter (thus faster) distances, starting with the 800m, and maybe (hopefully) even the 200m, my favorite distance. We’ll see - the key is to avoid re-injury.
Meanwhile, the myeloma is under control right now and life is very sweet.
Mile splits: 11:57 (walk/run), 10:27 (run), 12:57 (walk/run), 35:21 total.
