1.67 miles in 12'02"

when i jogged up to the school in jeans and clunky basketball shoes this morning to take care of some business, i felt so weird. it was like my legs had forgotten how to run or, worse, like they had never run before on any occasion. i stole my daughter's car to drive back home, but the feeling of that three block jaunt sat in my gut like an overstuffed burrito with guacamole and sour cream. tasty going down, but not so pleasant later on.

i worked all morning and then lunch time rolled around. i thought of the three-block fiasco and, in a moment of weakness, decided to run like a house afire! i grabbed my compression shorts and a few other articles of clothing and in no time i was out the door.

i had time to run my old "just had to run" route, the one that looked like a scottie dog without legs, so i headed north toward the school. these first blocks felt nothing like they did earlier in the day. my legs responded to my command to run. they remembered what to do. i was feeling fine and running fast when i turned to run past the grade school. i ran by all the high schoolers headed to lunch. some waved and said, "hi!" others turned away from the sight of a middle-aged man in spandex. the latter were the wiser of the two groups.

i was tempted part way through the route to turn my run into a 5K since i felt so good, but i didn't have the time, so i forced myself to turn and follow the course. i did allow myself a little guilty pleasure. i gave the dog legs! i'd felt sorry for him before. "scotty's lost his legs and can't run with ye any more, lad!" he's better now and the .12-mile extension didn't make me late getting back to work.

i was really pleased with my time on this run and even more pleased with how i felt. maybe next time, i'll give scottie a tail!