Responding

..or trying to, at least.

The path ahead is nowhere near as well-defined as this rain-soaked trail.

I managed to take 2 full weeks off running, and even blew off my first little trot by a day so I could go have fun with Tanker on the beautiful Saturday we were given for the Victoria Day weekend.

Coffee on the lawn, a motorcycle ride, a lovely hike, and I even got to paddle my board for the first time this year!

I even kept it short for my first outing on Sunday, getting out early to beat the impending 30+ hours of rain.

Just a little more than 3km, though it was in wind gusting up to 50kph.

My back didn't complain too much, though my ankle made it abundantly clear that I'd done nothing whatsoever during my time off to release the angry calf muscle that makes it cranky. 

I've been using my inversion table daily, but that only helps my back.

I started addressing the calf tightness with some rather uncomfortable application of a lacrosse ball, and it seemed to help a fair bit. The wet weather had me in no hurry to run again on the holiday Monday, but we did get out for a nice, long (if soggy) hike at a local trail tract.

I'm so happy Tanker is willing to go for a couple of hours' wander in the rain.

I had every intention of waiting til Wednesday to run again at all, so I didn't bring kit with me to work on Tuesday...but when the weather was incredibly lovely, and a new pair of sunglasses arrived at my office for me in time for my lunch walk, I found myself doing silly things..

Yes, I ran in Chucks.
Just little bits, on the soft grass.

I did some running drills - butt kicks, high knees - and some skipping, just for giggles. I ran through the dandelions and stopped to sniff flowers.

I have no idea what these are called, but they smell divine.

When nothing felt totally awful by evening, I gathered up my kit and stuffed it in a bag to take with me to work on Wednesday, when it was predicted to be about the loveliest day of the year so far. 

My legs and lungs were not entirely prepared for hills under the blazing sun, but despite giving myself permission to stop or walk if I needed to, I actually ran a little more than 4km without a pause. 

Actual footage.
(Nah, that's unkind to the snail.)

My ankle felt ok, which was awesome - if I can just remember to keep after it, I'm hopeful I'll have that business licked. There was a bit of tightness in my glutes and hamstrings that I wasn't sure about the actual cause: I'd done some light squats (25lb kettlebell) and one-leg deadlifts (with laughable 3lb weights in each hand) on Tuesday morning, and thought the stiffness might be from that. 

Only one way to find out for sure - it was a warm, sunny, beautiful evening when I got home from work yesterday, so I headed out for another easy 20mins or so.

Because why quit when you're ahead?

No pain from either the ankle or my back while running - definitely chalking that up as a win. More tightness in the glute and hamstring today, but I had done some work yesterday morning with my big bouncy ball that might be the culprit there. Or maybe it was trying to run 2 days in a row. Or maybe I'm just screwed and running will always be a thing that hurts me; I'm not going to lie and tell you that's not a huge fear of mine, and there's definitely a strong possibility my ultra days are over.

In the meantime, though, I'll keep plugging away where I can, and see how it responds. 

..and maybe try something stupid here and there, just for kicks.