Hello again...

Yep, I'm aware it's been over a month since my last post. And? I have no excuse...nothin'. So, I'll just do a little catch up and assume none of you missed me. My last post referenced a 5K I was about to run that weekend. It was a lot of fun and my time ended up being only 5 seconds slower than my PR in October. So, I was pretty happy about that.

It was a fun morning with fellow friends & runners. That was my final race before having surgery on my toe. The surgery went well, as did the recovery. It killed me to be couch-bound for 5 days and then pretty sedentary for another 3 weeks. But, I did it! I was cleared to run (as tolerated) on March 31st - and, of course, went running that night. I would say I'm semi-back, as it'll be a while before I can run farther than 4ish miles. Other than that, it feels great. The toe still has some swelling, but doesn't bother me when I run.

I have to say, my sanity has returned (a bit) since I could start running again. I honestly felt like I was going to explode, without the outlet of running. So, that has been a big boost. I ran my first post-surgery 5K last Saturday. I had never run this one before, so I had no idea what the course was. My only goal for this 5K was to run it. I really wanted to get a feel for how much fitness I lost. It should be noted that large quantities of food/sweets may have been consumed during previously mentioned sedentary time. While my metabolism stepped up (thank you) and there were no major weight ramifications...I was concerned how un-fit I might be as a result.

I took off, knowing I was going too fast, but just tried to stick with it. First mile - 7:36. Ouch! OK, on to the 2nd mile. It turns out there are 2 sizeable hills in this course - CRAP! So, they made their appearance in mile 2. I did not enjoy them - at all. Mile 2 - 8:30. LOL, that really shows that I must have been walking those hills (I didn't, I promise). My legs and body were hurting by mile 3. I was thinking, "WHY did I think this was a good idea my first week back?" There was a also a fun little headwind during the last half mile. Mile 3 - 7:56. Overall time was 24:11 and the course ended up being short. It was basically 3 miles.

I'm pretty happy with it, considering I've done zero hills (or anything) in the last 4-5 weeks. It was good to get out there and see where I'm at. I think endurance is the big thing I've lost, but I'll get it back. (I have to, I'm running a half marathon in June!)

Other than that, life goes on. Nothing else to report - that I can think of.