"Old Man" Runs Again!

I recognize that in the grand scheme of things, 39 is truly not old. When I was 19, I thought 25 was old; when I was 25, I thought 30 was old. Yet now that I'm 39, I have come to the realization that 39 (or even 40!) is not old. That being said, as young at heart as I may feel, sometimes being a runner can make me feel old.

For about a week after the marathon, I walked funny. There was a grimace on my face every time I had to stand up. When I would get up from my desk and start walking, I'd have to start slow, and once I got going I could go a little bit better. I have 80-year-olds at my church who get around better and faster than I did that week! Adding to the muscular discomfort was a pain in my hip - which my orthopedic doctor at my church said was likely "bursitis," which just sounds old!

By this past Monday, my hip was feeling a bit better, but I wanted to give it one more day of rest before I ran. When my boys got home from school, one of them didn't have any homework (for once!), and he asked, "Hey Dad - you wanna go outside and play?" He is 13 now, and I'll take any invitation to still play with my sons that I can get, recognizing those days are not as numerous as they once were. So I took the rest of the afternoon off, and outside we went. We had a great time running around, throwing the football, and even doing some soccer drills. He wanted to work on his speed for soccer, so I had him do some sprint drills barefoot. After doing a few sprints, he sort of challenged the "old man," saying something about how he could probably beat me now. When he is in mid-season form with soccer, he could probably run a faster mile than me, but I felt like I still had him in sprints and anything over a mile - so I took that challenge. Having not run since the marathon, I lined up against him for about a 75M sprint - and I beat him (not as badly as I had hoped, but I still beat him!). It felt fantastic to just burn it out! We jogged back to the start, because he thought it was an anomaly, and this time he got a great start and jumped out to a quick lead. When I started gaining on him he started cutting over to cut me off, so I cut back behind him and passed just at the end. We did a total of 5 sprints, and it felt awesome - especially because I won 4, and had 1 tie. I also felt great about my speed, and I knew that my hip was good - so I knew that I would resume running the next morning. In a little bit my other son finished his homework and he wanted to come out and play with Dad - and soon he wanted to run sprints against Dad. Again, I was loving it! I showed him also how fast the "old man" was. I was worn out after our sprints, but I felt great.

I felt great . . . that is until I rolled out of bed the next morning to go run. As my foot hit the floor I realized that the funny walking, slow moving "old man" was back! My quads and thighs were not happy with me, nor was I happy with them. My glutes were being a maximus pain also! I swear, the pain felt almost as bad as the day after the marathon! Obviously, distance running utilizes different muscle fibers than sprinting, and my legs were really educating me. So once again, there I was this week - grimacing when I got up from my desk, moving slowly at first and then speeding up as I got going.

This morning I was able to push through the soreness that is still there. I went out for my first "run" since the marathon - a nice, cool 5 miles. I did push the pace a little more than my 2 runs the week before the marathon - I just wanted to see what I could do. I wouldn't say that I went all out - I just wanted to run at a comfortable pace, but pushing just a little more than an easy jog. Ended up with an average pace of 9:13 per mile, and I really did feel good. My quads and thighs were still letting me know that they were a little grumpy, but they mostly cooperated. No hip pain to speak of, but unfortunately I did feel my right achilles again. Not really concerned about it yet because it wasn't really pain, just sort of a little tightness and it was letting me know it was there. But it is something I will be paying attention to, and this time I will go see my ortho doc if it starts bothering me again.

On a side note, I'm considering entering the lottery for the NYC Marathon. Odds are long that I would be able to get in, but this is #1 on my bucket list. This would not be the "perfect" year for me to run in it because of my schedule this year, but I figure if I get in then maybe that is simply Providence.