I started running regularly 4 years ago when I moved to the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. It’s lovely and flat on the waterfront, and has some lovely little parks and cool architecture to keep things interesting. Since then, I’ve run several 5K races, 10K races, one half marathon, and even joined a running club, and now have some running friends.

I never would have dreamed that I would really get into running…

Check out the last three months!! My monthly average was hovering around 15 miles (only about 4 miles a week), and last August was a whopping zero!! Now i’m putting in 50-75 miles per month or about 15 miles per week. Amazing!!

I’m getting a nice push from a few running buddies who have been meeting at least twice a week, if not more often, and running together in various locations around town. We maintain social distancing, and chat while we run, which distracts from the occasional discomfort of running, and also enhances the aerobic challenge (and monitors pace to an easy maintainable one).

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Update (4/2/2021) – I wrote the above almost a year ago, and sadly, I didn’t manage to keep up the pace. I ran with my MCRRC friends through most of the summer, and then sank into a slump, which lasted much of the fall and into winter. It was in large part due to the isolation of the pandemic, and the feeling that exercise wasn’t particularly worthwhile. As I avoided exercise, my mood worsened, and that fed into my lack of enthusiasm to get out and exercise. This is a cycle that I know, and I kept telling myself “You need to get out and move!” but I couldn’t muster the energy. The cold didn’t help.

So, what happened?

Ten pounds heavier, and a good deal of muscle lost, I finally started out again early this year. My pace, which had been hovering around 12 min/mile had dropped to about 15 min/mile. Not good.

So, I started running again. October I logged NO runs (!), and November I had a couple of weeks with two runs per week (and some weeks with no runs). December was similar. Midway through January is when I finally kicked it up, logging three runs per week the last half of the months, and continuing that trend through February and March. My pace is improving, and I can feel my legs getting stronger. I’ve also pulled out my bike, first getting on my clunky hybrid bike, and finally pulling out my fancy Trek bike that I used on the Alyn bike ride in Israel in 2006. I probably haven’t ridden it in at least ten years! In fact, I forgot how to work the shifters, and ended up slogging my way along the trail to and from Lake Needwood (a roundtrip distance of 11 miles) in one gear – fortunately, it was a moderate gear.

I took the Trek in to the shop last week, and had them do a full cleaning and tuneup. The technician instructed me on how to work the gears, which made me feel a little sheepish, but it had been ten years. I got it back just before we came to the beach, and I’ve ridden it the past two days. It’s not the right bike to have at the beach, but it is a blast to ride. I’m feeling inspired that I really could start biking regularly in to work (an 8 mile commute each way). That should help even more with getting back in the shape I was in a year ago.

Happy trails…again!