And then I went for a run

Last time I promised an update on my first attempt at running, a week after the Terrible Horrible No Good Really Bad Race DNF of last Thursday.

... That day is today.

You will notice I am not bawling or screaming obscenities at you. That you should interpret as a good sign.
However, neither am I screaming obscenities of joy. So, don't get too pumped (I saw you starting to get a little pumped there.)

This morning I woke up and thought: today I'm going to go for a run. Ok? Nevermind that I was crying on the couch last night about not being able to run and random pain I didn't understand. For days now I've been having weird phantom moving target cranky leg wtf pain, in all sorts of weirdo left leg places. Am I just making them UP? It's a little like an itch, you know, that you scratch in one place and it moves to another. Clearly something is still off in the back of my left leg region. But where exactly? What? Does it want ice or heat? Does it want stretching or rolling or massaging or resting. WHAT DOES IT WANT FROM ME??? I WILL DO IT IF I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!

Ok, wait, I said no yelling.
And as I said, there's no need for yelling.

So, I ate and coffeed, and did a couple errands that involved moving around and walking a bit, because I know the body does NOT like the running first thing, and then I drank some water and got dressed and strapped on my phone in case of crisis and set out. The man of the house looked a little surprised/concerned that I was going for a run but I said it would be short and slow. (Warning -- there is a sentence of lady business here:) I am also having my period, so in addition to the whatever weirdo leg pains, I had stupid uterus pain and back ache and general less-than-awesomesauce feelings.

Alright, where is the running bit??

Ok, so I went for a run. After .2 of a mile I was like: this is maybe a terrible idea. I have some beliefs about what aspects of my stride cause the back of left leg pain to occur, so I mostly tried to avoid them, but twice in that .2 mile I felt a something of something like pain. I stopped and massaged the places of pain, because I thought it would help. It did. And so I kept running.

I ran four miles. I was SO CAREFUL. I didn't let myself get further than a mile from the house, for fear of injury and pathetic limpy home walking. I never even put my headphones inm because I wanted to focus SO CAREFULLY on my form. I just used my Garmin to tell me how far I was going, beeping once a mile. I ran at a pace that I felt was super easy, which turned out to be completely consistently 9:30/min miles. If I tried to run faster, or lengthen my stride, my leg said no, so I didn't do those things. I stopped every mile to just massage out the back of my left leg, not because I needed to exactly but because it always felt even better after doing so. And in terms of tightess, discomfort, pain: my left leg felt considerably better after the run than before. When I got home I did the basic stretches; nothing twanged or anything.

I came back to my doorstep after 4 miles, because I was being SO CAREFUL (and I had to get to work) but I pretty much felt like I'd done next to no work (it was already stupid hot so I was sweaty and stuff but not dehydrated and my breathing was normal almost immediately.) I could certainly have kept running at that pace -- it felt like I could have done so for a long time. (Could I have done it 6.5 more times? We are not asking questions like that yet.)

Cautious optimism, is I guess the phrase of the day. Very cautious. Optimism. ... But how to proceed? I clearly cannot jump back into training according to the plan. For instance, the plan thinks I am running 18 miles this Sunday. CAUTIOUS! Not 18 miles.

I'm starting to think maybe I need to dump the plan entirely, and use the training method I have used for all my previous distance attempts (which were successful, btw.) This method goes like this: every second day or so, run. Once a week run long -- a little longer than last time you ran long. Once a week run difficult in some way -- that usually meant hills or speed, but for now anything other than long run pace seems unwise so maybe a trail run will be the idea. But overall, I may need to not actually *plan* to run a marathon, and just move along at my own pace. And if a week before the marathon I feel like I want to try it, fine. And if not, I will be well-prepared to run the half.

And now I am feeling fine. I think? When I'm actually doing the running, I know what kinds of pain can be ignored and which are important, and I pay immediate attention. But as I write this various parts of my legs feel weirdly tight in weird places. What's THAT about? ... Seriously, body, just make up your mind.

Meanwhile: upshot is that I ran four miles and nothing fell off. That's probably all I actually know for sure, but that would have been too short a post.

Tomorrow will be strength and core and stretching. Saturday will be crosstraining. Sunday I will run again.

Nobody do anything rash.