RUNNING UPDATE

A running update for the week so far.

I took Monday and Tuesday off and my quad felt like it was gradually getting better. It still hurt a bit when walking up stairs or any kind of incline, but I was worried I'd take too much time off and not ready to start track on February 16. I always worry about this even though I have been told over and over again that I should make sure my leg is better before starting to run again. On Wednesday it didn't hurt at all so I went ahead and ran a little more than my planned 4 miles.

I actually didn't feel like running, another reason I don't like to take too many days off, so I was intently looking for the slightest pain. I was kind of sore when I started out but that's because I took two days off. There wasn't enough pain throughout the run to find an excuse to stop, so I ended up running 6.5 miles. Yet there was still pain. Not where it has been hurting so that was good. But now the front of my right quad down to my knee hurts. The left side of my left leg was also kind of sore, but that might be from taking a break. My right leg is hurting right now though, so this might be a different kind of soreness. It almost feels like my knee can't support me, so I end up limping on the wrong side. I'm still deciding whether or not to run today but it depends on how my leg feels later in the day. I don't want to take another day off but I might have to.

Since the beginning of my run was spent making sure I wasn't hurt, I needed something else to keep my mind occupied when I did the extra miles. I ended up doing repeats along a flat stretch of sidewalk. A sidewalk that is now mostly cleared off because one of the houses with an icy sidewalk, has dumped about a foot of sand on it. This may be because they were reported to the city by a certain runner, but they could have cleared it off over two weeks earlier.

One thing I noticed while running along the road was that there was trash everywhere. Most of it was just sheets of newspaper or magazine ads but there were also two plastic bags. This was probably because it was garbage day and windy out but it made the street look like a dump. So I helped save the world by picking up some of the trash. I picked up the paper as I ran and dumped it in the recycle bin of some random person. I'm sure they were wondering why there was still trash in there, but they'd probably thank me for helping the environment once they found out what I was doing. Or they would give me a weird look like everyone else was doing. Not only did I save the environment, I also picked up a garbage bin that was in the middle of my street so someone wouldn't hit it. As a runner I felt it was my duty to do these little things. Plus, it made me feel guilty as I ran by but that is more of a minor factor.