After a three week hiatus I decided to go for a run this morning. It was beautiful outside. A slight breeze, blue skies, and a perfect temperature to make it a wonderful run. It’s not that I haven’t been exercising, it’s that I’ve not been running. I’ve biked a few times, and even taken quite a few walks and hikes. But today I ran.

The problem is my achilles tendons have been acting up. Walking and bicycling do not aggravate them as much as running. So, with that in mind, as soon as I finished stretching after my run, I grabbed the corn bag from the freezer and iced them pesky tendons. It worked. Now they don’t feel aggravated at all.

Now, if I could just ice the people in my life who aggravate me.

As I sit in front of my computer this morning after having completed a 3 mile run I am reminded of the three things given to my from my father.

The first thing is the reason for my running – my belly. I’ve been genetically blessed with my father’s side of the family’s gut. With the exception of Uncle Wendall, all my uncles have a gut. Most of my cousins too. Those that don’t, well let’s just say we’ve disowned them, the show offs.

The second thing is what’s happening right now as I type – I’m dripping sweat all down my body. It’s clinging to my eyebrows, running down my back in rivulets, and swamping on my sternum. I remember seeing my father sweat in the hot summer sun as he would work the fields, his t-shirt so soaking wet it clung to him like a second skin. I had that same problem this morning. It took a hell of a fight to get my t-shirt off.

The third thing? Probably the only thing I received from my father that is not impacting me because of my morning run – my hair. I still have a full head of hair. Though the hair strands themselves are thin, I’m not actually experiencing a thinning of my hair. Oh, and those of my father’s side of the family that have no belly but do have thinning hair? We’ve let them back into the family.

Anyway, that’s what I was reminded of this morning.

So, after taking over a week off from exercising, I went for a run today. Of course, the app “MapMyRun” already posted an account of how I did on Facebook. To be honest, I started out strong and ran an 11.09 mile, with some of that being up hill. However, after that first mile it went downhill from there.

First, I decided to run along a railroad track. Not a commercial track, but a tourist’s track that runs upstream along the St. Louis River. Needless to say, that slowed me down considerably. Oh, it was a beautiful run, but trying not to trip on the ties slowed me down. Plus, the track had a gradual incline.

Second, when the track reached the Morgan Park area, I had to run up an even steeper hill. At that point my heart rate was up over 160. In fact, it peaked at 175. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel all that bad. My sinuses must have improved because I didn’t get any blood throbbing in my vision, and I don’t feel the usual exhaustion that immediately hits when I push myself that hard.

Third, I dressed a bit too heavy for today. Granted, I chose a white t-shirt. But I should have put on shorts instead of the nylon exercise pants. But I knew I was going to  run along the track and didn’t want the foilage to scratch my legs.

Overall though, it was a good run. I’m happy with it.