NOVEMBER 12, 2020 (THURSDAY)
On a cool and slightly wind-swept November day in northwest Georgia, I ventured into my morning run headed for the eastern edge of the town of Trion. As usual, I stopped briefly while crossing the Chattooga River to check on the turtle population. Three turtles were visible, two on the rocks, one treading the water near the middle of the river. After that, I ran through “frog town” and onto the U.S. 27 by-pass and turned north into the wind.
This run was the best I’ve had since October 14, 2020. Then, I injured the intercostal muscles between the ribs in the right side of my back. This was done while moving some large, heavy rubber mats in the back yard. I felt a twinge while doing it but continued anyway. The next morning told me that the continuing was stupid. As Forrest says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Since the rubber mat fiasco, I’ve been forcing myself to jog at least one mile, sometimes a little more…for the running streak if nothing else.
Today, I was no longer a jogger. I was a runner…or, at least, I felt like it. My stride was longer and faster (but not much faster) and I had no back pain when my left foot struck the ground as it had been in the last 29 days. That was a sure sign of progress from the jogging phase, the result of the injury. So, I ran a little longer. The eight miles plus that ran north of town and re-entered on the old road excited me to look forward to longer runs just as the weather was turning cooler.
Mid-November was now looking good, and December is looking even better. But, I am behind in reaching this year’s mileage goal. I hope I can make it up in order to reach the goal. That will require runs that are quite a bit longer than the present daily average. Maybe I’m now ready to do that. Maybe not.
Tomorrow’s run will let me know a lot more about that.
*********************************
“Bash on, regardless.”
Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873)
Westbrook Running 