Like I Never Missed A Beat

Back in September Spike and I were chit-chatting about my injury and how long it had been since my last run (early March). Knowing it would be at least December before I would run again, he says to me,

"If there was snow on the ground during your last run and it's on the ground for your next one, well, it'll be like you never missed a beat!"

He was kidding of course, nine months is hardly "not missing a beat", but there ended up being a bit of truth to that statement; Last night when I set out for my first run in over nine months it was 30*, windy, and there was in fact some snow on the ground. I'd have laughed at the irony if I weren't already brimming over with so much excitement.

It felt so weird to have Hermes on my wrist again and a pair of running shoes on my feet. I had underestimated the weather and ended up being under-dressed for the amount of time we'd actually be out, it's one thing to wear a single layer in 30* temps when you're going long, it's another when you're only going a collective mile, but I didn't care. After managing to flash the U of M track team my new sports bra on accident and then getting scolded by Fabulous for not demanding they show us theirs in return, we got to the track. I fumbled with Hermes to get him going, "How do I reset again?" "What do I push to turn on the light?" and after a quick refresher tutorial we were off. Fab started running laps while I began my .25 M warm up walk, within minutes I had lapped the track and it was time to RUN!

What a weird feeling it is to know you can run after nine months of not being able to. As I neared the mark where I could start running my stomach knotted up and I actually had a moment where I thought about not doing it. I got over that quick enough and it was go time. Fabulous ran by my side, stride for stride, as we both screamed like 13 year old girls having a Justin Bieber sighting that I was RUNNING!!!... for two glorious laps of the track or .5 miles.

ZOMG!!!

Before I even had a chance to get warmed up or break a sweat I had to slow to a walk for my cool down lap. All done and said it was the most exhilarating 12+ minutes / one collective mile I've done for a workout in a LONG time. My legs were fresh and it felt right, I was grinning from ear to ear the rest of the night.

I can't wait for my next half miler tomorrow with B.o.B as I'm headed down to Florida tonight for the "Girls Annual Christmas Dinner" this weekend. (The trip they all chipped in on for my birthday) So far so good on not having any residual pain at the fracture site, just some muscle soreness that was to be expected considering how long its been since these legs have endured any kind of impact.

I can't thank you all enough for enduring my many months of being injured and especially for the support you've provided along the way. As each excited comment popped up on yesterday's post my heart swelled to know that I had, had so many people behind me this whole time. I am eternally grateful to have always had a shoulder to lean on during all of this and many times that shoulder came from one of you.

Alright, enough of this sappy stuff, how awesome is it to not hear me whine about being injured anymore?!?!? :)

To end this post I want to share two hilarious things that were said to me after discussing my return to running (R2R) yesterday:

Sun Runner: "One might say you full term gestated your stress fracture and birthed a healthy, fully healed bone!"

Harold: "See all the good things that come when you stimulate a bone?"

More to come next week, have a fantabulous weekend rocking those races and runs my friends!