A Run! A Run!

OK, so I cheated a bit... Six weeks after Sam's birth will be this coming Friday, so I technically shouldn't run until then. I do not want to mess up my recovery, and realize I am still healing on the inside even if I feel OK on the outside. But I also have been feeling good and admit to feeling in part that the 6-week rule is just a rather arbitrary number, and that we all are different in our recoveries, much like all of us moms were at a different level of fitness going into pregnancy and birth. So all that being said, I headed out yesterday mid-morning for a walk, with the thought in the back of my mind that I would try running and see how it felt. Well, I walked to the end of the walkway and started to run. And it felt good, so I kept going. Ryan set the over/under for my return to running at 4.5 weeks so I at least held out for longer than that!

I set out on the 3-mile loop through Highland Green, or "the Suck Loop" as Ryan has deemed it. I started out very slowly, gingerly almost. I was unsure how I would feel, and I was really focused on my middle, as I wanted to be sure to stop immediately if anything felt off. I was mostly just praying that my insides wouldn't feel like they were about to fall out. And they didn't. It felt a bit odd at first, but then so did running while pregnant. As I ran long, I got more comfortable, although I still kept the pace mellow. I wasn't breathing hard but I could feel things a bit in my legs. After all, I have had a 9 week layoff from running, so that was inevitable! With the torrential rains Saturday night, the powerlines were wet as were the section of woods by the high school. It was fun to tromp through the puddles and feel like a runner again :-)

I didn't wear the Garmin, but did time the run on my wristwatch, and I finished off the loop in 30:10, which made me pretty happy. It was great to be able to run the whole 3 loop at 10 minute pace without too much effort and to feel good doing it. Of course, I was tired out by the afternoon - perhaps the combination of being up a fair amount that night, running 3 miles, making dinner and feeding and taking care of Sam was a bit much for the day. I suppose a run/walk combination to start out might have been the smartest thing to do, but that is just not me! Anyway, I figured how I felt this morning would be the real test, and I woke up this morning feeling sore not in the stomach area, but in my quads, so I deemed the run a success! I took today off, but hope to get in a walk tomorrow and hopefully run Friday and Saturday. My six-week appointment is on Friday so I should have my official go-ahead for things then :-)