Round and Round and Round she goes

I finished off 2012 yesterday with 3.8 miles to get me to 1265 miles running/walking for 2012. Not as many miles as I had planned, but more than 2011.

Today I started off 2013 with the New Years Revolution Run at the Olympic Ice Oval in Kearns. Leslie Petersen and I did this last year in the inaugural year and ran for 4 hours. This year they extended the time to 5 hours. My doctor had given me permission for 2 hours of walking at 4 mph. I cheated a bit, but did stop at 2 hours. (Honestly – I was ready to stop by then and am icing my foot even as I type).

During the 2 hours I walked 9 minutes and then ran 1 minute. It felt good to be running. Other than a few steps to avoid getting run over by a traffic light, I haven't run since before the surgery. I'm actually feeling pretty good about the comeback I am making. (Weight is a different matter – for now I'm focusing on getting back into running and walking and following my doctor's orders). By mile 6 I could tell the foot was stiffening up and would limp for the first 15-20 minutes of each run and then it would loosen up. By the last lap (I did 30 laps), I was ready to be done. The foot was hurting and I knew I needed to quit, so I handed in my timing chip to avoid temptation.

Lots of friends and fellow runners that I knew: Seth Wold, Kelli and Scott Stephenson, Rachel and Lauren Moody, Laurie Pope, Molly Bitton and more. I was very excited to see Barb Scowcroft starting shortly after me. Barb is the director of the Utah Youth Symphony and a 1^st Violinist with the Utah Symphony. She was a big influence in Jennifer's life and has been a positive force in so many teenagers. After she was done with her first half marathon, I took some pictures for her and her running buddy (a harpist with the symphony) and visited for a few minutes.

Not a bad way to start the year.

Plans are, I will drop the walking and running intervals every couple of days until I am at 1 minute walking and 1 minute running (and stay under 60 minutes a day) and then see where I can go from here.