Running

Earlier today I went on the first "real" run after the surgery. I have run a grand total of about 15 kilometers since the surgery, but decided to stop the runs because of the close temporal proximity of the operation and the fact that I was not entirely confident that running on a hard surface would be the best thing when trying to heal jaws that are attached to your skull by mere titanium plates. Additionally ever since the Helsinki City Run I had had small issues with my left foot. It would get this nasty pain at around the instep of the foot after about five kilometers.

Anyway, as said, today was the first time that I actually ran. I started from my flat with an aim of first running along the northern shore of Lauttasaari and then over the bridges to Kaskisaari and Lehtisaari and finally to Keilaniemi and then back to Lauttasaari. So around the Keilalahti bay. I would imagine that the run was about 12-13 kilometers, give or take a bit. The weather was quite decent with a temperature of about 16 degrees and only a minor breeze. And the run was absolutely epic! For the first time in a while running was easy and very enjoyable. Up until and including the HCR, the runs had been sort of forced; ram things through any way possible.

This time round, it was amazing. I was sort of worried about what the sick leave might have done to my health and whether or not I could even run the entire way without stopping. The start was quite typical, nothing out of the ordinary. After about 3-4 kilometers I noticed that my left foot wasn't acting up at all. The scenery was also brilliant; I have never actually run around Keilalahti even though I've lived in Lauttasaari now for about four years. After getting to Kuusisaari I started getting a bit tired, but continued to push on and on the bridge to Keilaniemi this sort of strange feeling came up. I was getting more and more tired but my speed kept steady and slowly it became easier and easier to run. I've read about the runner's high previously, but I don't think I would quite classify this experience as such, because it wasn't as strong as what others have described and the distance that I was running wasn't the typical 20-30 miles that people typically talk about when they mention a runner's high. But I would say that I was able to achieve a type of flow from Keilaniemi onwards.

Timewise the run was pretty much exactly an hour long, meaning that I was in fact running surprisingly quickly considering my overall shape. Towards the end I was actually starting to worry about whether or not I could go on until the finish and whether or not I would lose the flow if I slowed down. I ended up walking rapidly for a bit less than the last kilometer just to cool down and because the situation was so strange for me. The description may sound funny, but I've never encountered this while running. I have, however, encountered similar situations a couple of times while golfing. At some point you might be able to achieve a flow during a golf round; you stop thinking about your game and you just find a type of balance. That's when you are able to play amazing rounds and get hooked on the game. So, I guess this experience should serve as a very good motivator to start ramping up my running again and slowly increasing the distances in search of the magical runner's high.