EATING THAT MANGO

For the first time in a very long time I feel like I am truly back. And that's exciting! I've been running regularly since coming back from my broken toes on August 23rd. Eighty three miles later, I still feel fine! My knees haven't been an issue at all. The psoriatic arthritis definitely seems like it is in remission and my body has eased back into running successfully. Now, there is still a lot of caution with that optimism, I've been burned too many times before. We'll see if these results can hold, but I feel confident enough now to sign up for races and get excited about them again.

I would also like to brag about two of my most recent runs. Now, the focus has been to just get back to running, regardless of the times. And I'm still mostly in that mindset. However, on Thursday night I decided I was going to push a little. Just a little. The last time I had run a training run under 10:00/mile was May 2016. So SIXTEEN months before this. And let's be honest, most weren't even close. So what did I average on Thursday? Oh, you know, just 9:24. On my hilly course near my house that includes a 200 foot climb up Sexton Mountain. No big deal. It was a challenge, definitely a tempo run for me at this point, but it felt good. Legs responded great the next day too.

That was very encouraging. It gave me confidence to go for ten miles on Sunday. Remember, before the half marathon two weeks ago my longest run since May 2016 (again) was six miles. The weekend after the half I did eight. Not a big issue, definitely tired, but fine. So on Saturday I set off for ten miles. Not only was I able to do the ten miles without issue (spare getting stung by a bee randomly while running), I did them averaging 9:49/mile. Huh? Two weeks ago I did the half at 10:53 and now I'm doing 10 miles at 9:49? I don't know! I wasn't even trying to go that fast. It just sort of happened. It felt good and I went with it.

Anyways, after both runs my legs and everything felt fine. Like legs should! So that is hugely encouraging! I don't want to suddenly put pressure on myself to go under 10:00 all the time either. I think my "easy" pace is still a tick above that. However, I am getting a little speed back, which is nice.