Running Again

I had taken Monday off from work presumably to recover from jet lag. Kolkata is 13.5 hours ahead of Los Angeles. I still haven't figured out where they get the half hour. I thought all time zones were an hour apart. Anyway, I was just sitting here in front of the computer catching up on email and blogs when I realized what a beautiful day it was, sunny in the mid 60's. Up to this point I hadn't really thought about when I would start running again, so I decided that now would be as good a time as any. I wasn't sure how the first run of 2006 would feel. I tried to stretch a little in India and I probably walked 3 to 5 miles a day, but I had been feeling really stiff.

I decided to go over to Bonelli Park. I didn't feel ready for the hills but there's a 1.75 mile loop around the picnic area that is fairly flat. I figured I would go around once and decide from there whether or not to continue. Once I got started everything felt pretty good. My legs were fine. The biggest struggle was my breathing. It seemed more labored than normal and I felt like you could have heard me coming from 50 yards away. Many of us had developed what we affectionately called the "Calcutta cough" during the second week of the trip. Kolkata obviously has no AQMD. I made it around the first time and decided to give a go for lap two. I ended the run after two laps, 3.5 miles, feeling happy to be home and happy to be running again. Later that day I was completely wiped out. My legs were sore almost immediately and coupled with lingering jet lag my sleep that night was not very restful.

Tuesday I went back to work. I spent most of the day recounting my trip to all that stopped by the cube. It was good to process and tiring at the same time. I took the day off from running.

This morning I packed by running clothes and took them to work. My running buds from work and I used to go over to the Santa Fe Dam and run 5 miles at least once a week. We hadn't done this since the change back to Standard Time. There is no light on top of the dam so it feels a little eerie. Now that the days are longer, if figured if I could get out of work right at 5 o'clock I would still have 20 minutes or so of daylight. I was also counting on some lingering light from the recent full moon. When I got to the dam the sky was all clouded over with big rolling grey and black clouds. They were pretty high up, but were all sinister and menacing looking. They made me think horror movie or something out of Lord of the Rings. I was still feeling stiff but my breathing was much less labored today. I put in 4 miles and finished in the dark. I will be glad when Daylight Saving Time takes affect again.