I did it!  I ran again!  Ok, so it was only 1 measly little mile, in air conditioned space, on a treadmill, at 0% incline and I was extremely slow…  But hey, I ran!

For those of you who didn’t know, I have been recovering from a hip flexor injury I got a few months ago when I was training for a half marathon.  I was up to 10 miles, running strong and running fast.  Then it all plummeted.  I missed my half and have been extremely reluctant to even try to run again.  I still want to complete a half before the end of the year so time and more training will tell if I can.

Back to this one silly mile run… as I was running (maybe we should call this a fast walk instead).  So as I was fast walking, my hip surprising didn’t hurt!  I could feel my muscles engaging again but didn’t have pain!  (hallelujah, praise Jesus, yes, yes, yesssss)

Once I reached that 1.00 mile (which felt like a marathon) I decided to stop and work on some stretch and strength exercises.  Note:  I’ve noticed I spend far more time stretching than actually working out these days — could this be a sign of aging!!?  Feeling pumped about my fast walking mile, I thought – hey why not try some lunges?  BAD IDEA.

I have this issue where I get these intensely-painful-want-to-cut-off-my-foot-drop -to-the-floor-in-pain foot cramps every so often.  I also will get cramps in my calves in the middle of the night where it wakes me up and I feel almost paralyzed with pain.   I’ve done some research on this and these two links below are great resources if you are experiencing any of these too.  My favorite remedy – foot massages – any takers out there want to endorse this and support my foot healing with your massage skills?!

Livestrong: How to get rid of foot cramps

Runner’s World: How to prevent foot cramps

The calf cramps haven’t happened in a while (actually, I can’t pin point when the last one was but I also try to block out that painful episode from my mind…).  However, as soon as I started doing lunges, my left foot started spazing! I couldn’t believe this.  I thought “really?!  You mean to tell me I successfully ran fast walked 1.00 mile and now I get a foot cramp!  What in the world?!”

So I stretched.  And stretched.  And stretched.  It didn’t go away so I called it a day and headed home.  With my foot still cramping, walking to the car was tough and luckily it was my left foot so my 40 minute drive home was do-able.

Experiencing a mini runner’s high from my run fast walk was very short-lived by my foot cramp.  However, it was just long enough to remember the feeling of the road/treadmill under my feet and the fresh air/recycled gym air on my face.  I love that!

Feeling productive (remember 1.00 miles is a HUGE accomplishment for me), I decided to reward myself with my favorite-at-this-moment-cookie, dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  I have 2 secret tricks that I think make these amazing… grind up the oatmeal in a food processor or blender (if you broke your food processor, like I did) and grate extra chocolate in the mix…

Pair with a big class of Almond Milk (or Merlot if you had a fabulous workout) and enjoy!