Back to life

Next weekend something special is going to happen: I’m going to participate in the Toronto Waterfront Half. My preparations for the event are going as planned – rather poorly – but I’m still excited about this race.

I don’t run big city races very often. There’s much to enjoy in a race like this (like the sizzling energy in the air, the feeling that the other runners could potentially be friends or at least weekly training partners, and the follow-up hearty breakfast and race discussion with runners) but races haven’t been on my radar. For the past two years I have been much too busy to allot time for running at a training level. It’s been two years of “just getting through the day,” with work and school wasting taking up most of my time. I’m not enrolled in anything this fall, except my day job of course. Can't drop that quite yet.

On Saturday I ran my 10k route. The fall colours were beautiful and my form felt good, although I did aim to keep the pace slow. At about the 40-minute mark I sped up slightly to pass a couple of fast walkers and maintained that pace until the IT band on the exterior side of my left knee started to protest. I reduced my “speed” and continued.

That IT band is a cranky ol’ lady who prefers (demands?) consistency. It’s like the class system: try to rise above your station and you’ll be punished. The terror of life under the reign of Queen IT.

Besides that single outing, I haven’t been running. I won’t attempt a long run now with the race just six days away. A 10-15k run is definitely in the picture, though. A slow one.