The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon

Tendinitis sucks. For real.

Back in August, Michelle asked me to run the BAA Half Marathon with her. No problem, I said! We had run the Dublin Marathon in 2005, so 13.1 miles was definitely not intimidating, plus I was starting off with a pretty decent fitness base. I had been playing lots of soccer, walking several miles a day, and running a few miles on occasion, though not as regularly as I once did. The next day, I went for a 5 mile jog. Within 2 weeks I was running 7, and my left knee started hurting. A little at first, it became pretty unbearable, and I found it difficult to go up and down stairs, so I stopped running. I stopped playing soccer. I took short cuts when commuting (I love walking, so take the scenic route when I’m not in a hurry). I started trying to find a seat on the T.

Being out of shape sucks. My energy has been down (for me, which still might be considered manic by some standards). I don’t sleep as well or as long. I can be a little crabby, which is uncharacteristic of me. I honestly don’t know how people do it! All kinds of studies show that exercise helps keep your mind sharp, helps keep your energy up, helps you sleep better, makes you live longer, etc. There’s really no excuse not to be in shape. Even from a purely selfish perspective: you simply feel better! It’s been 5 long months. My knee is weak but no longer hurts on stairs, so it’s high time for my increasingly soft butt to get back into shape.

The problem last time was that I put on too many miles, too fast. My heart and lungs were strong from soccer, but my legs were just not used to the different kind of abuse that long distance running dishes out. Not this time! On my first jog, tonight, I ran a slow less-than-three mile jog, but, for the first time, I brought The Baron! Michelle started out with me but ran ahead with our current foster dog, Henry, a 60 lb. lab-something (pit bull? shepard?) mix that clearly has no problem running Michelle’s near-infinite mileage. Baron’s legs–measured in inches not feet, moving several times for every one of my steps–would be a better match for my slow few miles, I reasoned.

Man, was I wrong! Check out his chiseled physique:

This dog is all muscle. Measuring only 16″ to the shoulder, he is 100 pounds of Alpha dog in a 19 pound bag. I would have been better off latched to him riding a skateboard like an urban dog sled than attempting to keep up with The Baron. I might have burnt more energy holding him back than actually running. My legs were noticably beat when I got home, but he didn’t even lie down; he chewed on some stuff and then wrestled for about an hour with Henry after Michelle returned.

I’m going to take this getting-back-in-shape thing slowly and likely won’t run for two days, but I’ll definitely bring The Baron along with me again.