Finally, a Few Miles!

For the past couple of weeks, I start my day out by coughing for a couple of hours in the morning. This week, this has lessened to about an hour, then about half an hour. So I decided to try a few miles and see how it felt.

Yesterday, I walked 3 miles on my lunch break, about all I can do in my 45 minute break and still have a couple of minutes to wolf a sandwich and cool down a bit. I don’t feel as bad from my cold mid-day, and it was a sunny and cool day. I walked across the James River on the footbridge to Belle Isle, walked along the path by the Hollywood Rapids, and turned around at 1.5 miles. Even though I started out feeling cold from the windy day in the lower 40s, by about 2 miles or so I had to remove my fleece and walk in my short-sleeved shirt because the exercise was generating so much heat. It was a good workout in my old, battered running shoes that were not fit for training anymore about 8 months ago. But I am trying to save my half decent pair of shoes for at least another month or two of training. Obviously, I have been thinking about shoes for months, if you see my older post on getting some New Balance in my life.

Then tonight, my cold feels even less, and I decided to try a couple miles of mixed running and walking on the treadmill where I can set the pace. It was my first running in nearly three weeks, and even alternating between 3 minutes of running and five of walking for two miles wore me out. I can see that this weekend, I may want to start out slow and maybe only run a minute or two at a time, which is discouraging. But it is also reality. I have been just trying to get better for the last three weeks, and my fitness level has temporarily suffered.

But it sure feels good that this cold is loosening its grip, and it felt good to do a few miles again. Looking forward to training this weekend!