good for the sole

Hate the pun, not the punny guy.

Some days I realise just how lucky I am, and today was one of those days. There’s a group of really great people who run on Wednesday nights. These people are my friends, and they are truly awesome.

For a variety of reasons, mostly injury related, I haven’t run with the crew for about six months. Tonight, I decided it was time to take the plunge and go with them, instead of soloing and meeting up afterwards. I was really aprehensive about running, because I’m still not anywhere close to the level I was at 18 months ago, and I didn’t want to hold anyone back. We ran just over 4km, and managed to bring it in at about a 6.5min/km pace (normally we do a 6min pace), including a walking break here and there for yours truly. No one cared that it was a couple km less and a little slower than they normally ran, nor that we walked twice for a minute or so each time. They were just happy I was out with them and that I finished healthy. I can’t tell you how good that made me feel.

Running makes me happy. Running with my friends makes me glow (I can’t think of a better way to put it, so there it is). Tonight was fantastic, and is a huge step back on track for me.

After our run we went to Iz’s for mushroom risotto, mesclun salad with balsalmic dressing, and a hot smoked salmon (the salmon was chilled when served, it’s the smoking process that was hot, which resulted in nicely blackend flesh) that was incredible. Oh, and there were Crown Floats, too. The package was wrapped up with some great conversation, more than a little ribbing, and a terrific sense of how this is the way I should feel all the time. I’ve missed feeling as good as I do now.

Truly good for the soul, and I can’t get over how much I’ve missed hitting the pavement with the Wednesday night crowd. I’ll sleep well tonight.