twist of fait accomplis

My first race of the year is coming up this Saturday. It's an informal race ($7 registration and the race gift is a pencil rather than a t-shirt) on a nice, flat course out in the middle of nowhere. I decided it's a few days away so, you know, I better try running or something first.

Last night I went for my first run since last September. I half-expected to not make it a mile; I've been getting winded going up the stairs at work, never a good sign. But I went out with the intention of running for distance and time rather than speed and ended up surprising myself. I ran for just over a half-an-hour, covering 3.35 miles. That's 9:05/mile, which isn't great, but it ranks as just slightly below average from what I was doing back when I was running regularly. The most important thing, though, is that I know I can cover 5k without dying after six months without lacing up my running shoes.

I'm going to try to get one more good run in on Wednesday and then a short 2-miler in on Thursday, leaving Friday to recover. Then I need to prepare for my next race, which is a significantly more difficult one.