Better late than never

So I just got back from my first "run" in two months about an hour ago. And man was it tough! I can't really believe it's been two months since I last ran; actually I can believe it because I was struggling after my first two laps. Jeez, am I really so out of shape?

The answer was a resounding yes as I made my last lap around the track. But it wasn't always like that. When I started running my first time around I felt so invigorated! My body was moving and my heart was pumping and I was enjoying it. Maybe it just felt nice to be outside in the fresh air, which is always preferable to the inside boringness of a gym, and to have a purpose to it other than getting to the subway, or getting to work on time, or getting home quickly to get to the bathroom (my bladder always seems to strike right when I get into the elevator and can barely contain itself the six-floor ride to my apartment).

This was also the first time I've ran on the track at night. The night scene is much more happening than the morning scene. Whereas in the morning there's just the runners and joggers, the occasional grounds worker, and that's about it. But at night it comes alive! There's people playing basketball next to the track and the field inside the track is being used for soccer play (my neighborhood is heavily hispanic so soccer, or football as they would call it, is pretty huge). The track itself is populated with much more people and outskirted with small teams getting ready for their turn on the field and families watching. I definitely like the vibe, and coupled with the nighttime it's pretty cool (I've always been a fan of things done at night; night football games at Cougar stadium are the best!).

But it was still a brutal run there at the end. Maybe brutal is too harsh a word, but my thighs were hurting like I had walked up fifty flights of stairs. Perhaps I was running differently, lifting my legs in a ways I hadn't done before. Who knows why, maybe it's just me being out of the "running" loop for so long, but my thighs have never hurt that much after a simple run; not even after I ran my non-trained-for 5k's. So somethings definitely up. It was probably the not stretching before hand. The real test will be how I feel tomorrow...

And with that I'm going to take a shower, because man do I STINK!