This week it doesn't surprise me to be the thread-starter, as I'm up early today getting ready to run my first 5K in about six years.
I was an avid runner, completing a number of marathons, half marathons, ten-milers and other, assorted distances for over twenty years. I was injury-free for that time until 2011, when I did something to my hip during that year's Marine Corps Marathon. A year of physical therapy put me straight, but then I almost immediately tore the meniscus in my right knee, requiring another year of treatment. Fortunately, no surgery, but I was required to stop running.
Anyone who's a runner knows that if you don't keep at it, you lose your stamina, your wind, and your muscle tone. Coming back is really "starting over."
So, with my health in decline, running appealed to me on a number of points, so I've been taking to the roads and trails again. Gads, have I gotten slow!
But this morning I will engage in my first official 5K. I have my t-shirt and my number, and after breakfast I'm preparing, will head off to the race.
If I survive it, I'll let everyone know.