The First Run Back...That Wasn't

Today marked the day I was to get back to running.  WHOO!  2-3 miles at a snail's pace was on the schedule.  Um...I think I spent more time getting ready for the run and stretching then I did running.  :(  As soon as I started out I noticed a deep pain/tenderness/soreness in my right quad.  I decided to run for a couple of minutes to see if it needed to loosen up or what.  By the time I got to the end of the street (.33 miles) it was still pretty painful and I was starting to run with somewhat of a limp, although there wasn't any pain on the gradual uphill the last block.  I decided to head back for home and call it a day at .5 miles.  I hobbled the remaining .17 and then just walked the rest of the way home.  At one point, I actually realized that I was full on, bottom lip protruding, pouting.  Hah.  I guess I was looking forward to the run or something.  :p

.5 miles in 4:56 for a pace of 9:52.

I got home and stretched then decided to do some pushups and situps.  I haven't done pushups since the Sunday I got back from the Wild West Relay (whoops!) so over a full month ago, but I have been doing yoga fairly regularly.  I was excited to see where my upper body strength was.  I was able to knock out 20 in a row.  Heck ya!  I think the most I've done prior was 18.  I did my sit up routine (minus the ones that caused my leg to hurt ie:  bicycles, leg lifts, etc.).  Then I did another set of 20 pushups.  I felt STRONG.

After chowing on some dinner, I spotted something in my kitchen that I thought might help out my aches and pains--my rolling pin!  It felt so good/bad/good!  I just rolled out my thighs in all the areas that were sore.  I went back and forth between the right leg and the left leg until they felt 900% better.  I may or may not have packed the rolling pin in my bag to take with me to Taylor's tonight.  :)  Post-shower I coated the quads in a layer of the Biofreeze.  Oh.  So.  Good.

I'm supposed to do an easy 4 mile run tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to get in at least a couple of miles pain free.  I'm itching to get back into training if you couldn't tell.  

Also, I signed up for the Run for Rita 5k on October 10th.  Oooh how I love to race.  Hopefully it hasn't snowed by then, that might hurt my chances to PR if I'm running through snow drifts!  :)  

In super sad news, part of the race photos from the half are uploaded to the website, and there isn't a finish line photo of me.  :'(  There are 2 pictures where you can see my shoulder sticking out behind a runner, but no finishing photo.  I'm so bummed.  Good thing I had such awesome photographers there to snap some great pics of me.

Hit up chicrunner.com for details on how to win a $75 gift certificate for Zensah.  If you win, you can get me a sweet gift for telling you about it.  :)