Back to 100 Percent

Day 452 - March 28, 2010

HooRAY!! As hoped for, the hip is back to normal and the weekend runs were a success. On Saturday I decided to test the hip and do an out and back 5 mile run. If I felt good at 2.5, I'd extend the "out" another mile and make it a total of 7. I am happy to report that I felt great and with all that I added on, I logged over 8 miles and ran for over an hour pain free.

Today was the real test. The plan heading into this Saturday's Charlottesville 10 miler was one more interval workout at the track today, then sort of coast the mileage back down to taper for the race. That plan was fine until it decided to rain all day here. I kept waiting for a break, but it never came. I was less than thrilled to go out to the track in the pouring rain. Have you ever had one of those runs that you think will just get better if you keep procrastinating? It took over 30 minutes to force myself out the door.

I got to the track and was soaked by the end of the first two laps. I decided I would do at least two 800's and if it was terrible, I would quit and go home. I took 5 laps to warm up and then turned in a 3:02 for my first 800. Not too bad. After a 400 recovery, I came right back with another 3:02, and followed that up with a 3:00 minute 800. Ok, three down and I'm still doing ok. I took an extra lap and ran an 800 recovery before interval #4. That extra rest was like magic and I legged out a 2:56. There was no way I could end on the fastest 800 of the day, so I did another 2 lap recovery and finished the day with a 2:59 for interval #5. Totaling up all the cool downs and recoveries, I manged to run 6 miles in the rain and felt much better at the end of the workout than the beginning. Just the kind of confidence I was looking for going into race week.

God bless this streak! There is no way I would have run today without it. Getting through a week like this past one lets me know that the only thing between me and 1000 days is another 548 runs. The rest is just mental!