The air was hot and muggy. There was a bit of a breeze but it was a hot breeze, not a cool one. I began walking on the trail through the woods. I took notice of just how much poison ivy covers the ground on each side of the paved path where I walk. Where does poison ivy come from anyway? How did so much of it get in this patch of woods? I made a mental note to never veer off the path. Thoughts of the nasty poison ivy rash I had about a month ago flooded my mind and made me start to itch. I still have a scar on my leg where it had gotten me the worst. I hope that goes away eventually.
I came to the clearing where the trees line one side of the path and a grassy field is on the other side. This is the area where the kids practice soccer sometimes. No one was there today. My half marathon app was nearly done with the 5 minute warm up phase when I reached this portion of the trail. It's almost time to start running. I was looking forward to this run. I was pumped up from my last run two days ago when I ran 7.5 miles...the farthest I've ever run. And that run felt somewhat easy. So today's run should be a piece of cake. It would only be around 4 miles.
Ding! The app sound chimed and the lady spoke and said "start running". Here we go! I began to run. First step...FEE. Second step...FI. Third step...FO. Fourth step...FUM! What? Each of my legs must've weighed 500 pounds. Every step was labored. It felt clumsy and heavy. My feet pounded the ground like a sledge hammer. My whole body seemed to feel the blow. I kept going, hoping after a minute or two, my body would get back in sync and it would be the nice, light, airy run like I had on Saturday. Wrong. It would not be that today. Today it was the giant's run.
FEE FI FO FUM. This is the fairy tale run I had today. It never got better. Every step crashed down hard like the step before it. My calves quaked from the start of the run to the end. It was 48 minutes of pure agony. On top of that, it was hot. 88 degrees. Sun blasting my face most of the way. No cool breezes to make it better. No clouds to hide the sun. Just hot, miserable air and a body that felt 10 times heavier than usual for some reason.
But, I ran today. I finished. I never quit. And....I saw two bunnies. :)
Craziest part? I'm looking forward to my next run.
