A Passion for Running

Welcome to the home of Mark aka The Running Blogfather – a 40 year-old dad, husband and marathon runner who's beaten injury and is on the comeback trail!

more about the run

passion for running category: running on Wednesday, January 19 2005

First, thank you everyone for your support and encouragement. It’s really cool to be able to share the joy with all of you. :)

The run was short – only two miles. A wise beginning I think.

Overall, things felt pretty good and even though we ran quite slowly, I was still surprised the cardio did not seem to have slipped much. As far as the ankle goes, the jury is still out. There was no pain but there was a sort of tightness in my arch. I really had to think hard to figure out if it was pain or something else and finally decided it was closest to feeling like a muscle cramp. The “cramp” went away as soon as I stopped running. I would have liked to ice it but didn’t have time since Lori and I had to rush off to a financial planning workshop the moment I got home.

I’m thinking two things about the cramp. First, that after my injury and layoff from running, my arches are weak and I need to do some excercises to strengthen them. Second, I definitely need to follow through on my springtime goal of doing some barefoot walking and running to further strengthen my foot and lower leg muscles.

I suppose there may also be a third thing. I think I’m experiencing a bit of paranoia – maybe even some psychosomatic stuff. That might be partly good in that it might be my brain’s way of keeping me from pushing things too soon.

All this aside, I’m a very very very very happy camper. :D




9 Comments

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Comment by Dianna (RCOH)

Wednesday January 19, 2005 @

Hooray!! 2 miles is 2 miles more than yesterday. And that ROCKS.

And how much do I love this song blaring in my headphones right now. Thanks Bro.

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Comment by Jon in Michigan

Wednesday January 19, 2005 @

Good job, Mark! The first two miles is the hardest. :)

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Comment by Taco John

Wednesday January 19, 2005 @

Congratulations on the new beginning!

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Comment by Dawn (aka Pink Lady)

Wednesday January 19, 2005 @

Good run and I suspect your last paragraph might be partly right.

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Comment by Mike Paus

Thursday January 20, 2005 @

Way to go Mark! The first runs are the hardest. I know last year when I was coming back from my foot sprain the toughest part was getting from one mile up to two and then from two to three. I think you’re half way back. Keep up the good work!

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Comment by Annalisa

Friday January 21, 2005 @

Great report, Mark. Glad to see you are back out there. Did you know that in Iyengar yoga, you practice lifting your arches in all the standing poses? Tree pose, Triangle, and a couple of others, especially. Let me try to find some links to send you, but I have noticed that when I work on this in my yoga, my feet feel much better after running.

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Comment by BD

Friday January 21, 2005 @

Excellent. Wise to start slowly. After an ITB injury put me on the sidelines for a few weeks I suffered from paranoia every time I went out for a run. “What was that pinch? Why did my knee pop? Did I feel tightness?” And so on. Eventually it passes as you regain confidence that the injury is behind you. Glad to see you are back at it. I know you must be thrilled!

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Comment by LouBob

Friday January 21, 2005 @

Something I think works great when your standing around (which I seem to do alot of) is stand on one foot(do calf raises, or not) and feel the muscles work.

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Comment by Lara

Friday January 21, 2005 @

Great Mark! Glad you guys had a fun and successful first run, and it does sound wise to start easy. After my stress fracture I was very hyper-aware of every twinge and, at first, the fear of reinjury was almost overwhelming. It was hard to strike a balance between listening to my body and being paranoid of every sensation – but it all smoothed out after not too long.

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