The Returning Runner
Act 2 – The Basic Plan…
It was a warm, late summer day. I stared down at the grass in a tightening circle of consciousness. My hands were on my knees, and I gasped in great heaving breaths. This wasn’t cool at all. At 48, I was probably the oldest on the field of the Wood Rodgers company picnic touch football game, but not by much. The rest of the group consisted of several 30-somethings plus a handful of early to mid-40ers. I desperately wanted to be cool. I straightened up and tried to act like everything was fine. Unfortunately, the return of blotchy, high-contrast, vision ended any semblance of “cool” as I returned to clutching my knees. This wasn’t me. Although my weight had gradually risen to the upper 180’s spread out over my 6’-4” frame, the innertube around my gut wasn’t too obvious. Somehow my plan of hitting hotel room gyms when I traveled 3-4 times per year on business hadn’t kept me in condition like I thought it would…I made a resolution to make a change and returning to running after 30 years somehow seemed like a way to do it.
Although knee surgery had corrected the instability in my right knee, I couldn’t run more than a couple of miles without limping – I had tried several times. But, there were things that made it worse and other things, not so much. I came up with a formula I was going to try:
The Formula:
· Running on pavement made it worse – I would run as much as possible on trails and grass.
· Running downhill made it worse – I wouldn’t run downhill. Ok, what goes up must come down but I would jog, trot, or even walk the downhills if I had to.
· Besides knowing that downhills exacerbated the limp, I instinctively felt that uphills would strengthen the legs and provide a further benefit. So…I would push the uphills.
Oh, it wasn’t so easy. Although my mind could easily visualize me cruising along at nice 8-minute miles, I was a middle-aged man who had scarcely touched cardio in 30 years… Stay tuned…
Next week, a brief debrief on the US Masters Championships 1,500m and 5k (televised on https://www.usatf.tv/ ) and then more regarding the path back.
2008 Wood Rodgers Corporate Challenge Track Team - 9 months after returning to running