Run Vegan Run

Finally I was able to run more than 10 k today! I had a few dates, some fresh blueberries (I love summer!) and I was out the door. It didn't all go smoothly though.  Less than 1 k into my run my bra strap came undone. Hmmm...what to do? The only way I could fix it would be to take off my bra. That's complicated when you're out for a run. I looked for a place to step into the woods, but then I saw a woman coming along the path that I had passed a few minutes earlier. She was on a power walk. I stopped her and asked if she could fix my bra. An odd thing to ask a stranger, but there you go. She fixed the strap, I thanked her and wished her to have great day, and then was on my way.

Two minutes later my left hamstring twinged, kind of like a little pop. I stretched and tried to massage the pain away, but was having little luck. Walking was hurting it. Hmmm....what to do?  I tried shuffling along to see how far I could go, but it only took a few steps before I had to stop from the pain. I did some more stretching and massaging. I felt like crying! After all of this recovery time for my achilles and now this! I shuffled along some more, walked, shuffled, and then slowly began to do a slow jog using my yoga breathing to "breathe into the pain." I also focused on relaxing my legs and hips as much as possible because it's so easy to tense up when you're feeling pain. Once I crested the hill I knew I'd be able to keep going a little further, and decided to keep going as long as my body could stand it. Well...10 k later I felt pretty good.

I think it was the uphill that irritated the hamstring. I've been doing so much running on flat terrain to help my achilles recover that my legs just aren't use to having to climb.

During the last kilometer I felt really great endurance-wise, but my hamstring started to tighten up again. I couldn't wait to get home and stretch.

Now I can rest it for the remainder of the day, and tomorrow we'll see how it goes.

(I also tried out my new Camelbak water bottle, and I love it! It took a little getting use to, but now I really appreciate being able to drink from any angle, which is nice while running because I don't have to tilt the bottle to get liquid. It's the small things...)