My Christmas Gift...A Five Mile Run

Hi everyone!

Did everyone enjoy their Christmas? Did you get the gift you wanted?

Did anyone get a gift they didn't expect to get?

I did.

I ran five miles yesterday.

Ok...let me say that again.

I. ran. five. miles. yesterday.

Pain. free.

Can you say, "Merry Christmas. people?!"

Being able to run, pain-free, yesterday was an unexpected gift. At first, I was going to just run around the block to see if my knee hurt. Last week, when I took a test run to see if it hurt, my knee began hurting after three blocks. So...I figured four blocks would let me know the scoop.

Strangely enough...you wouldn't think a gift would come in such gray overcast weather. But then, that just goes to show you that pretty packaging isn't always indicative of the quality of the gift. When I began my run around the block, it was literally raining outside. The 16 inches of snow that we had recieved a few weeks back were turning into huge messy, snowy, slushy puddles that I was vainly trying to leap over to keep my feet dry. But despite my steeplechase efforts, there was no way I was going to clear 2 to four inch deep puddles spanning a few feet in length without getting wet, so finally I ran on the road where it was drier.

But the conditions didn't get me down. In fact, I was flying high. It didn't hurt to go around that block. So, I kept running. I felt like a million bucks running.

I had missed it so much!

I thought about turning around at a mile to log in just two miles...so as not to push it. Then, I thought about making it three miles...but the "five mile run" idea was just too tempting.

So, I kept running, and I even smiled when I finally completely soaked my shoes when I splashed into one unavoidable puddle.

Let me borrow a phrase from ?,

"Running in the rain...I'm running in the rain. What a glorious feeling...to be happy again"

Ha, ha...I never thought I would enjoy a run so much as I did yesterday when for the past three weeks I couldn't run without pain in my right knee.

I will admit, folks, that my knee does feel "slightly" sore. Maybe I should have just stuck to two miles...

But when God gave me the gift of running...

I guess I got a little excited.

Enjoy your gifts, people...the priceless ones.