One Year

I started running one year ago tomorrow, July 10th. The Nike Run Club app on my phone records it as “Friday Night Run” because I started as soon as I got up, at 4 a.m. That was how I had done it in the previous era of my daily running. But that era ended around 20 years ago, and the new era is different. I’m different. Now, as I discovered last July 10th, I don’t want to run in the dark, and I want coffee first.

I had thought my running career was over when I stopped running, in my mid-forties, because of chronic knee pain. I’d always been just an ordinary runner so it wasn’t hard to drop that piece of my identity and switch to walking for exercise.

It was my daughter, who started me running again, though that was not her intention. Now in her twenties, she had taken up running, and as she talked about it, I was intrigued.

On July 10th I ran 1.11 mile at an average pace of 18’ 20” and it took me 20 minutes 27 seconds.

This morning I ran 2.30 miles at an average pace of 13’ 57” and it took me 32 minutes 13 seconds. I ran the same route both times. I decided to double it today, in honor of my anniversary.

In looking up the stats from last year, I discovered that my total mileage for the year is 200.1. And the workout I do tomorrow morning from the Nike Training Club app will be my 200th workout. I love that coincidence.

Tomorrow I will not run. Instead I will drive about 45 minutes to a good trail and hike for maybe 6 miles. I’ve got a daily running streak of over two weeks now, and it’s time I broke it. Also, it’s time I got out on a trail to hike again.

Oh, by the way, after this year of running I have no knee pain.