Running on empty

I’m going to blog about sports, but it’s time to get personal. I exercise a lot. It’s my real-life version of Farmville. I go to the gym twice a week and do weights or Wii Fit for the rest of the week. Sometimes I enjoy it and sometimes it’s a pain.

Sunday afternoon was my first opportunity to jog in my new neighborhood. I hadn’t gone for a run in five weeks. We were in move mode and then we were in endless winter mode. Today’s high temperature, which was around 45 degrees, would have qualified as a deep freeze in previous years. Now it’s practically balmy.
On Sunday it was 65 degrees. People were out in shorts, and not just the nutso joggers who wear shorts no matter what the weather is. I walked a bit with the wife and started on the Appetite for Destruction.

We forget, more than 20 years later, that Appetite for Destruction was an oasis in a desert of mostly horrible synth 80s music. I say mostly because I do like to rock the Tears for Fears from time to time. I gave myself a goal. Run for ten songs. Ten songs usually ends up around 30 to 35 minutes. Welcome to the Jungle is around 4:30 and sets the tone. Paradise City is almost seven minutes long and while running seems more like two hours. I was in the middle of Sweet Child of Mine when I ran up the hill and called it a day. Less than nine songs translated to around 37 minutes. I had made it.

But a run is never really done until the following day. Therin lies the soreness. When my gym replaced the ellipticals, my calves were sore for three days. On Monday my thighs felt like Albert Haynesworth had taken a nap on them. Walking was only painful when I moved.

I skipped my usual Monday afternoon gym trip because of the thighs. On Tuesday afternoon I felt barely better but tried it anyway. I do around 40 minutes, half on reverse and half on forward. Forward tends to be harder. The first 20 minutes were tough. The second 20 minutes were a breeze. It’s rare when the time just melts away and you’re moving at nearly a sprinter’s pace. I completed the 45 minutes including the cool-down and did 6.99 miles. Yes, I rounded up.