Recovery miles

I gave blood Monday and the Red Cross person suggested that I wait until "at least" Wednesday before I start putting any mileage in again. She pointed out that, since the red cells carry the oxygen and I had just donated 10% of my red cells - it would take a little for my body to replace them and I shouldn't expect to much.

At this point I'm pretty sure that some of my lost enthusiasm is because I was nervous about running again after that warning. Suddenly it was noon time and I was still in my pjs - which isn't like me at all - and I knew I had to take action.

I started by putting on my running clothes. It didn't matter if I sat all day in them, it was a physical reminder I had to do something. After a few minutes, I got up and headed out the door to the running path. I figured I'd do at least one mile but the goal was a mile and a half and two miles if I felt good.

I also left the watch at home. No pressure to keep a pace or anything like that - just figure out my timing after the fact by adding up the time of the songs on the mp3 player.

So I went out and the first half mile didn't feel great but it wasn't bad either. I decided to try for the two, but a quarter mile later I realized I really wasn't up for two today, so I headed back. At the one mile mark - where I enter and exit the running path - my head wanted to turn and leave but my feet kept going on their own to do another half mile loop.

In the end it was 1.5 - my goal of the day. When I added up the times, I realized I did it in 19 minutes or a 12:40 pace.

Maybe I should leave the watch home more often.

The rain from Florence is supposed to hit tomorrow and come down through Saturday. I actually like running in the rain, so I'll try to get three miles in on Friday. Maybe I'll go back over to Heartbreak to get over this little glitch as well, maybe just map out 3 miles in the neighborhood. We'll see.

I'm thinking about running in a 10k on Sunday since I was planning on a six mile run any way. The sun's supposed to be back by then and I figure I'd rather do a relatively flat, fast course in Marblehead this week than wait until next week and try the Marine Corp 10k in Milton through the Blue Hills. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Either way, if I get one in before the Tufts 10k, I'll probably feel a lot better knowing what I'm capable of doing.