I’ve been running strictly on the treadmill for the past two weeks. The beauty of the treadmill is that it offers a controlled environment and after that little issue with my achilles all I could think about was being cautious. My treadmill is a very low-end model of some brand I don’t even know off the top of my head. Hey, it’s a hand me down – third owner here – and I am just grateful to even have the thing. It’s saved my butt on more than one occasion. Last Saturday was my first opportunity to head outdoors, my long run for the week. A whopping 9.5 miles. Not such a great feat only 10 weeks out from race day.

This week I’ve been pounding the streets and feeling much better. It’s been over 10 days since I’ve experienced even the slightest phantom pain which is a good thing. More and more I think the whole achilles issue had to do with how cold it was outside that day and an improper warmup. Noted. I’ve been much better about not starting out too quickly since then.

Out of curiosity, I’ve been wearing my Garmin for the past three runs. Now, before you get all up in my face, saying “I knew you couldn’t last” or something like that, let me just say that I am really getting into this running by time and by feel. Trust me when I say I will not revert back to my old ways and start wearing my GPS on all of my runs. But, I wanted to see how the time & feel thing was correlating to pacing. Interestingly, I’m running better by NOT knowing my constant pace, mileage, etc. Turns out my pacing has been between 8:00-8:45 at any given point along my runs. This is much better than I was expecting. I thought I’d be more in the 9:15-9:45 range.

Nine more weeks. Back when I was pregnant, nine weeks seemed like an eternity. Today, nine weeks seems too short an amount of time. My head is coming back around, it’s back in the game again. I think this year’s weather has a lot to do with it. It’s been a major mental barrier, trying to force myself outside. But I’m finding myself actually wanting to go out and run again. Definitely a good sign.