It's been a long time since I left you, without a dope beat to step to

So, it seems I have taken a hiatus from blogging my runs. Part of the long layoff was due to a drastic increase in my daily time commitments - starting school and new job. The second part had to do with me being stupid and injuring myself. On Thursday, September 9 I started to run a 3x3 mile workout but after 1.5 miles I felt a slight twinge in my left calf. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I stopped the workout and cooled down easily. The calf wasn't too bad during the day and decided to run an easy 10 miles in the rain on Friday. While the calf didn't hurt per say, it did feel a little "off". It's a tough feeling to describe and I can only say that it is an innate feeling I have developed over the years. This is where things get interesting, or stupid some might say. On Saturday, an acquaintance in Baltimore recruited me to run a 5k on the track to help add some depth to his race. I obliged, knowing that if I wanted to stick to the plan and run the Parks Half on Sunday, my calf needed to withstand a 5k. Well, I got 1200 meters in and wrenched things mighty good.

I wisely took Sunday and Monday off and when Tuesday rolled around the calf was feeling good. I got 20 mins out and started experiencing some slight tightness so I decided to turn around and be safe. The idea was to add on at the end if things didn't get worst. Well, 5 mins later the calf knotted up again and I was left to walk/jog the rest of the way back to the house. Luckily, the week and weekend were busy and taking the time off to recover wasn't as difficult as it otherwise might have been. Jilane did a great job of chronicling Ben's birthday weekend and Melanie and I added on to the fun fest with a somewhat "select audience" MGMT concert.

I started back running on Tuesday with an easy 6 and 6 double. While it didn't feel that long, a week off really zapped any semblance of fitness I had built up in the last few weeks. There is nothing to be done now but sack up and start over. Wednesday was one 7 miler. Thursday was one 7 mile because my car was broken into and the passenger side window shattered - pretty pissed about that one.

Anyway, time to move on and get back to running and blogging!