Earlier in the summer, our dog Maya had surgery for her hip dysplasia. She was very sore and got tired incredibly easy. But it was important to her recovery that we walk her and exercise the leg as much as possible. So our walks went something like this:
Walk about a house length, then collapse and rest
Walk another house length
Then collapse and rest again
She’s doing much better these days. She can complete a walk without resting now, but we just can’t go as far as we used to.
On my long run yesterday I was reminded of Maya because all I wanted to do was stop and rest after every mile. I did 10 miles, the first 5 of which went very well but then I completely lost steam. I’m not sure if it was my reduced mileage from the previous recovery from neck and back issues, which are mostly resolved now. Or maybe it was my diet. Or maybe it was the heat, which honestly wasn’t that bad.
I managed to finish, but it was definitely one of those runs where I was a half mile from home when I hit the 10-mile mark and I didn’t even think about doing anything else but walk the rest of the way home. During the run, I stopped twice — not to walk but I pulled a Maya and stopped completely to sip some water, refuel with energy gel and build up energy to continue. The only thing I didn’t do was lie in the grass, but don’t think I didn’t consider it.
Here’s hoping for a better run tomorrow.
