In October, I decided to end my retirement from running. The goal wasn’t to get back into marathon shape — or even 5K, 10K or half-marathon shape. I simply wanted to add a new dimension to my boring resistance and cardio workouts.
Two months later, and more than 12 years since I last ran with regularity, I’m back in decent running shape. After a week of run-walking two miles, I can now run between two and three miles, on a regular basis.
Getting my wind back was tougher than I expected because I had forgotten that I live in a sneaky-hilly neighborhood. When I take the dog for a walk I don’t notice the inclines as much as the dog does.
Now I feel them, and I don’t like them. They have, however, made the first few weeks of running pleasantly challenging.
It’s nice to be a beginning runner again, just doing it to stay in shape, not really caring about my pace and, most importantly, not training to compete in an organized race.
Mike McClary 