Muscle Up

As I climbed the stairs to my home office this morning I was brutally reminded of my approaching 55th birthday. My legs screamed at me for abusing them. The muscles in my back, arms, shoulders, rear, thighs, calves and feet (There are 33 muscles in each foot!) objected in unison to any further attempt at running.

Whoa, just who do they think they are talking to? Am I not the boss of them? I’ll teach them to try to squelch my running goals.

I went to the River Walk with the intent of just walking the soreness out, but after a few minutes I took off at a slow trot (which is what I call running). Almost immediately I felt a pain in the center of my right kneecap. I have no idea what a meniscus is, but I imagined that was where the pain was coming from and I know enough to know I don’t want a torn one, so I stopped running and began a walking pace again (which is pretty much the same as my running pace, just not quite as spastic looking).

I quickly grew bored of walking and got up the nerve to test the knee again with another attempt at running and this time it didn’t hurt. I was able to run for a greater distance and with fewer walking bits. I am still not running on the inclines, or hills as I prefer to call them.

Coming from Lubbock, the flattest place on the planet, I’m finding San Angelo’s hills lovely, but it is daunting to think of running the up-sides. Locals will probably laugh at my interpretation of the hills, we are not, after all, officially in the Hill Country, but after 35 years on the Texas High Plains I feel like I’ve moved to the mountains!

My muscles can scream at me all they want – I’m just happy to know I’ve still got ‘em!