Baby Steps

It's been almost 12 weeks since my surgery and things are pretty much back to normal. I'm still not inviting any 15-pound cats (I'm looking at you, Dena) to go stomping on my mid-section, but my energy levels are good and I'm working out on a regular basis again. Except for one thing...running.

I was given the green light to start running again 6 weeks after my surgery. I've gone running exactly 4 times since then. It's so frustrating how quickly one goes from easily jogging 3-6 miles at a reasonable clip, to gasping on the treadmill after 5 minutes at 5.5 mph. But, uh, that happened to my friend, yeah, I have this friend...aw, who am I kidding? Yeah, that happens to me.

Last night I managed to do 20 minutes on the treadmill, but it was stretched out over 40 minutes and peppered liberally with long bouts of walking. I know I can't expect miracles, and of course staying in shape takes work, but I didn't think I'd get set back by more than a year on my running journey. It's tempting to give it up all together, but I know that's not the answer, either. I don't really know what point I'm trying to make here, except to say that I'm slightly frustrated, and I recognize that baby steps are in order.