I had to run two counties over, but I finally did run!

Unless you count jogging in place in the pool for five or six minutes at a time or running up and down the steps about a month ago, up until this morning, I had not gone running in seven weeks. Wow.

I have thought about running a few times here and there the past few weeks, but as we all know, the road to hell (or in this case, the road to being out of shape) is paved with good intentions but not much else. And although I have been keeping up with swimming a few times a week, it just isn't the same; I really missed running. So finally this morning, when I thought the temps were in the lower 60s, I figured now was as good of a time as any to get out there (there being Indiana County, where my running shoes most recently hit the road last summer, I do believe).

I ended up running about 3.1 miles in just over 30 minutes. Although a 10-minute mile is nothing to brag about it, I can take some comfort in that it has been almost two months since I last ran. Plus there were quite a few hills and curves along with the blazing sun. One road worker along the way told me it was too hot to run (my guess is the temps were in the 70s). I agreed, but said when you have not done so in over a month, you just have to do it.

My left knee hurt a bit for most of the run, and the hills were not easy. But I made it through the entire run without walking, which I feared I would, considering my few runs during this past spring were all under three miles.

Which reminds me: About a month ago, a few moms talked about running the Great Race in September. I ran the 10k two times at the beginning of the century, and I would probably feel defeated if I could run only the 5k. But at this point, I would be happy if I could manage that. We'll see.

Let's just hope another month does not go by before I have a running report.