ugh
I went for a run today.

The last time I went running was May 26, two days before my first surgery.  That morning I ran 8 miles at a decent training pace (around 11 minutes/mile) and was thinking that I'd be back out in eight days, two weeks at the most.  Yeah, that didn't happen.

So here it is, a month later.  I was astonished at how many things I had forgotten in a month: the way my little toes go numb half a mile into any run, and then are fine a few blocks later, the way the running shoes feel on my feet, nodding at the regulars I see on my path most days.  Today I ran two miles.  And it was hard and I was slow.  But I ran.

I will no longer be doing the SF half-marathon.  It's July 25 and not only do I not have time to train for it safely anymore, but I will likely be radioactive that weekend.  I don't think I can ask everyone else in the race to maintain a ten foot distance from me at all times, nor will I have the energy to go that far, even if I could train.  That means my next race is at the end of October.  I figured out the training plan earlier this week and was thinking I have plenty of time.  After this morning, I'm a little less confident.

They say (whoever they are) that there is a two week grace period before your body starts losing conditioning if you stop running.  And that it takes doing something regularly for three weeks to make it a habit. 

So now I have to fight a little, to get my conditioning back, to get back into the habit of running, to get past the place where two miles hurts and back to the spot where it's easy. 

But I guess I am still a runner.  And so, I start again.