Just took a decade or so off

Back in the winter of 2000 I ran my best three miler. At 18:40 it was much better than any time I ever managed to put up while running XC in high school. I think part of the motivation was the cadre of Platoon Sergeants and Sergeant Instructors offering their unique brand of encouragement along the way.

This high water point of my running career was short lived. A few days later I took a tumble during a boots and utes run through the scenic Virginia countryside. I tried to stand up and a practical demonstration of gravity showed me that I could not put any weight on my left leg. I pulled up my pant leg and saw that my kneecap was already the size of a cantaloupe and turning a nice shade of purple. The culture regarding injuries at Officer Candidate School is one of "ice it and suck it up" so imagine my surprise when my Platoon Sergeant takes a look at my knee and proceeds to fireman carry me to the corpsman. The resulting injury took me out of commission and led to the end of my Quantico adventures.

In the years since I fell off the running wagon. Desk bound jobs and going to law school full time led to me gaining more than 80 pounds. I would make attempts to get on some type of work out / fitness plan, but laziness would win out.

Back in April my wife approached me with the idea of running a 5K. Dori attacked this goal with determination and zeal. During the week we would hit the local roads and on weekends we would put Aidan in the jog stroller and try to put some miles in before doing errands.

I was a bit lost at first because any training program that I might have used in the past took a certain base level of fitness for granted. Sadly I did not possess that base level of fitness. To be honest I could not even put together two full laps around the track at first. The first few weeks were discouraging because I just didn't have the wind in me to do anything other than shuffle. I stumbled upon the Couch to 5k running plan and framed my workouts around it.

I can not lie. As a former competitive runner this training program was a major blow to my ego. Doing road workouts where I walked more than I ran was hard to accept at first, but as I stuck with the program I saw the improvement.

On June 20, 2009 Dori and I ran in the Shwachman-Diamond Dash for a Cure 5k in Sayville. I can not express how proud I was of Dori for setting a goal for herself and seeing it through. She finished her first 5k and is hooked on jogging.

I crossed the line in 36:45. Not the competitive pace of days gone by, but to be honest I was just thrilled to have been in the pack. A twelve minute mile average is better than what I expected going into the race.

On July 6, 2009 I returned to the State Park Summer Run Series and ran in the Hempstead Lake Park 4k. I crossed the line in 26:12, and on my first mile I hit 10:00 on the nose.

I am happy to be able to say that I am a runner again. A slow runner, but I am not too concerned about that. Dori and I are planning on doing our next 5k out in Westhampton on the 18th of July. We haven't decided whether we are going to push Aidan along for this one. He might wind up staying with grandpa that morning.