Making Changes that Work

The kids and I survived our wild New Year's Eve slumber party, and my husband's rendition of "If I Were A Rich Man" was a huge hit at the party he attended. We all brought in 2012 exactly how we wished. I think he might have liked less of a hangover, but he did get to spend New Year's Day laying very low for the most part...unlike me.

A few days ago I mentioned that I am re-learning how to run...again. After two mellow 3-mile runs in my new shoes with my new gait, I hit the trail yesterday for 8 brutal, hilly miles. I ran unbelievably slow but maintained my form the whole way. My schedule had 12-13 miles on it...which I set out to do...but I figured 8 miles holding my form with incredibly tight, sore calves while simultaneously working my quads, glutes, and hamstrings differently AND asking my feet to take the load in a new way was more than adequate. Plus it was getting dark and I was kind of nervous about being on the trail at night... alone ...except for maybe the coyotes, mountain lions, and serial killers.

It was the first 8 miles of this...

I knew I was going to want some crowd support on this run, so I asked my husband to drag the kids out to meet me at Mile 5...right before the biggest hill and the beginning of the 'turnaround' loop (the halfway mark is somewhere on this middle-of-nowhere loop). As I was running slower than usual and the sky was getting darker and darker and I was feeling more and more sore, I knew before I even saw them that 13 miles was not going to happen. It was so sweet to see them when I did :) They asked "Are you in a race, mom?" I said, "No, just practicing." Then I asked them to hang out for another half-hour while I did the loop so they could give me a lift back to the truck...I knew I was going to be toast by the time I finished that piece. They kindly obliged...so, yeah, a pussy pick-up. I am totally fine with that...I do believe an additional 5 miles would have had "INJURY" written all over it.

Now 14 miles into this shoe/gait change, my legs are really sore. All over. It is, however, that good kind of sore of muscles having worked hard and not the pain of injury. My hip is no more tender or sore after my run than before my run, which is very different from how things were using my old shoes and my old way of running. I do believe this indicates that these changes are working for my body :)

I've been rollling, Sticking, stretching, massaging, and icing my legs like there is no tomorrow. The soreness in my calves is starting to decrease some today...I think...a little.

Also on the topic of making changes, I made a New Year's Resolution... I now have a bedtime.

Do you do the resolution thing?