I Will Need the Built-In Snot Wipers*

I think tomorrow might be the day. The day I run again, that is. Since getting this cold five days ago, I've barely been able to hold my head upright, much less propel my entire body at anything that might be considered a rate of speed.

I haven't run since Sunday, when I pushed a jogger stroller and baby weighing a good eight-hundred pounds (okay, maybe forty) up and down the hills of La Crescenta, California. I don't know if you've ever been to that area of the country but summing up the terrain is pretty simple: steep uphill, steep downhill. Those are the only two options. You are either working your calves and hamstrings (and your behind, ahem!) or your shins and quads. To death.

I am not kidding, the next day after my first run on those hills I was more sore than after any race I've ever done. After any 20 miler, after any weight training session, ever. Sad, isn't it? And frightening, too (to me, anyway). There is a silver lining, though, and one I didn't think would come. Certainly not from hill work, anyway. My knee feels better and stronger than it has in months.

I suppose it all makes sense. It's logical that working those muscles out on a couple runs, albeit small in mileage but so very, very huge in incline, might actually encourage those muscles to be stronger. I just didn't think I was ready, but I've been wrong before.

And so tomorrow is the day. Although it's still a little tough to breathe, I'll get through it. I will pound the pavement (read: trail; because I am no dummy, I want my knee to stay good) and I am sure it will be a struggle but if I come out of the entire thing with no pain and both lungs intact, I'll consider it a success.
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* Also known around here as gloves.