Today Was The Day!! P.S.U.#8

     Today was the day I have been waiting for, for what seemed like months and months, I have been cleared to start running again.  Despite my lungs being a little out of it and my legs being a little tired from it, it was awesome to get out there and finally do it again.  

     I got to my physical therapy appointment early and found Alisha hanging outside of the building, which on a day like today I wouldn't think was strange, because it was so nice out.  Here in Northwest Ohio we have finally hit a stretch of nice weather, and today for the most part, it has been in the mid 60s and sunny.  She said we don't need to be cooped up inside on a day like today, and that today we RUN!!  I followed her down to a local metro park that was packed with people, and I can only assume that most of them were playing hooky from work.  We did some light stretches and marching drills to warm up before we headed out on the natural paths through the woods.

     The loop we took was rather short at three quarters of a mile, but had some nice quick elevation changes, for northern Ohio anyway, which allowed me to put my hip through its paces.  We kept the pace nice and easy right around a ten to eleven minute mile, which didn't seem to be to terribly bad for me considering I haven't truly run since the beginning of December.  Alisha kept an eye on my form making sure I wasn't favoring my hip at all and dictated the pace for the entire run.  She told me my form looked good, which means all the marching drills she had me doing paid off and the pace was no problem either.

     When we finished, she had me stretch out and then do some single leg and double leg squats to finish up.  She informed me that unless I have a set back of any kind, the need for in office therapy visits were no longer needed and I could begin running regularly.  What does regularly look like?  Well, I am allowed to run a mile a day for four or five days the first week and I am to add a mile each week following till I am consistently able to run 5-6 miles with no issues.  All of my miles are to be easy pace / easy effort runs also.  I am not to do any speed work or any other specialty training for awhile, which is A-OK with me, because I hate speed work.

     It is amazing how bright things ahead can look when it finally feels like you are making progress.  I don't have any delusions that I will have a few minor set backs and if all I am ever capable of is a nice steady ten minute mile, I am just fine with that too!

     I want to thank everyone for your well wishes and support through this running 2.0 journey.  It has meant a lot to me over the past few months.