Running some more

Cutting back my mileage seems to have done me some good.  This week I ran 2K (1.2 miles), a mile and a half and yesterday, two miles, my "long" run.  That was the best of all.  It was cold when I started and I wished had brought my running vest.  Instead I bumped up my pace for more warmth from exertion and I found that I enjoyed the faster pace and it didn't knock me back to where my ragged breathing made me wish I could contrive an excuse to end or shorten the run.

As a matter of fact, my breathing didn't increase much when I kicked it up a gear and I found I was running easily.  Heartened, I continued up Broad Street towards the one-mile turnaround in the Metro parking lot, and I noticed I wasn't noticing, as I have been so far in my return to running the last half year, the general uphill inclination of the first half of the route.

At the halfway point, I started back and fell in with a fellow walking way from the station all decked out in Nationals gear and I asked if he was returning from the parade downtown honoring the World Series champions Washington Nationals.  He was, and I walked a block with him as he described how festive the atmosphere was in DC during the festivity and we discussed the chances to repeat were for the team next year since their two biggest stars, the Series MVP and the NL and Series RBI leader, are free agents now.  Waving goodbye to him, I ran towards home, encountering two little girls and their dad on bikes riding ahead of me on the sidewalk and I manufactured the challenge of passing them which I did.

It was a good outing, two  miles run at an elevated pace, more or less, and it didn't wipe me out and my breathing felt finer, finally.  I feel like my running is finally starting to come around a little.