Way out of running shape

Despite my rare appearance on this blog, I have been exercising. I managed to do Zumba once a week during August (including one week with two classes) as well as swim two to three times per week all month long. Unfortunately, I had not gone running since the beginning of July. That is until last week.

Now that school is back in session, and I have had time to kill between lunch duty and pick up, I figured I had no excuse not to lace up the running shoes. So this past Tuesday, I finally got back out there. It started off okay, though I felt warm almost right away. I don't recall feeling too much, if any, pain, but realizing I was struggling mightily, I decided to run only to the stop sign just before the final (big) hill during the last couple tenths of the first mile. I could not risk running out of gas and then leaving my kid stranded in the parking lot on the first full day of school.

When I finished my run, I was convinced it had to be about 90 degrees. Turns out it was only 81, but the humidity was definitely high. Between the heat and my not-in-running-shape body, it took me probably 10 minutes to stop panting. At least two parents in the lot after commenting on how I seemed to be struggling while running (they drove past me), and I told them they were not wrong, but I considered it a victory that I was still walking. I cannot recall how long it took me to run that approximately 1.5-mile route, but it was irrelevant. Since I had not run that route since March, I am not overly disappointed. Hopefully before too long I can get the two miles in.