Meep

Life feels pretty awesome right now. I'm still riding a high that started just after I survived running intervals in Åby track earlier today. It was a strange experience for me, who never runs intervals.

Maybe I should write ”intervals” instead. My rehab schedule means running in 3 minute intervals with one minute walking breaks, and today's session was no exception. I didn't plan the pace. I ran at a fast pace I could maintain for those 3 minute intervals, and today that was between 4.30 and 4.50 min/km (at least for the first few kilometers, then I went back to turtle mode). No lightning speed, exactly, but very fast for me. I fantasized about emptying a bucket of water over my head more than once. Jumping into the nearby swimming pool. Running to the near super market and sticking my head into the freezer. Drinking up all the water in the whole world. Cars stopped at the sight of my face. It was hot. 

Nerdy fun. The diagonal lines represent the walking breaks - my Garmin was paused then.

The sore on my foot, which I had forgotten to protect with a band-aid, grew more and more painful with each meter I ran, until I couldn't stand it anymore. That happened about 7,5 km into the run. So I took my VFF off and, bleeding just a liiiittle bit, joined my friend N from the group (who had been running real intervals, whooshing past me quite a few times) for some barefoot running on the grass. The sensation of being on fire was lightened by the few raindrops that fell from the sky and the soft, cool mud under my feet. Running on grass was slow going but it felt so natural, such a relief after the relatively hard track. The jury is still out on whether mud is a good antiseptic for my bleeding sore.

We celebrated a session well run by snacking on some chocolate cookies and sipping on some coffee, exchanging ideas about future runs and enjoying the endorphin buzz. Then the reality of today's run finally sinked in. I had covered over 10 km for the first time since, what, May? without any complaints from the knee. My feet might be destroyed, but my knee is fine and THAT'S WHAT MATTERS.