Miles 1-4: Four for Four

You could say I'm off to a banner start of The Plan, waiting to log my first run well past the first day of the year, but I sort of like the symmetry that running my first four miles of the fourth day of the year provides.

There are a number of reason why it took me over 100 hours into 2011 to enact The Plan, including - but certainly not limited to - grogginess due to the plethora of shots imbibed and endless appetizers consumed on New Years Eve; a strong desire to dismantle my Christmas tree and decorations; the eneral apathy (meh.) that usually sets in about half-way through New Years Day afternoon; and an almost OCD driven launch of repainting my hall bathroom, resulting in 15 man-hours over a 36 hour period.

(My fingers and wrists were protesting so loudly I could barely type Monday morning. So I certainly couldn't run because I wouldn't be able to blog about the experience.)

But no matter! This afternoon at 3 pm, I texted James to ask if he would wait for me to go running. And around 5 pm, James, his new Garmin watch, and I went running on one of our standard loops. We chatted - well, I gasped, and James breezily chatted - about our day, as the last of the sun disappeared and the air chilled.

I felt strong despite my nearly two month long break from running (thanks to cycling classes), though the left calf cramped up about three miles in. Luckily, I had my trusty Axis foam roller back at the house to save me. More on that later.

Miles 1-4: 38 minutes shared with James while a pink explosion of clouds faded into the dark.