IT FEELS GOOD TO FEEL GOOD. After several days of enforced rest (save for those pushups) I recovered from whatever I had and got back into the groove this week. Aikido on Monday went well, as did conditioning class Tuesday. Then I found that Coach Marie had given me 8 miles for Wednesday night – two more than usual. Welcome back, Jeff! I decided to handle that with one mile before, six miles with the group, then one more to finish. I got downtown early, put on the new Elixirs, and headed out.

After a week with no running, I felt like the proverbial racehorse let loose, and had to work to keep at my assigned 8:00 to 8:30 pace. With temps in the low 40s, no wind, and no ice on the roads, I couldn’t ask for a better winter night’s run. And I was so energized that the running felt nearly effortless, almost as though I was gliding along at times. If this is what a few days off can do, maybe I should try it a bit more often. But as I mentioned in a post a few months ago, running is becoming more enjoyable for its own sake, and the Wednesday night run is something I very much look forward to all year round.

My long run on Saturday will be cut to only about six miles or so, to save my energy for the Super 5K, an annual tradition sponsored by Running Fit to give people some exercise before the Big Game. It means getting up early so I can get to Novi in time, but it’s fun. As the course is typically crowded and a bit narrow, I won’t be making a serious attempt at finishing in under 20 minutes. I will try that again in March, at the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K in downtown Ann Arbor.

February goal update: unfortunately, I’ve had to work late this week and haven’t made any new recipes for a few days. And I’ll be out of the country next week for a while, so I’ll have a challenge on my hands when I get back. Looking forward to it, though – while work is a good thing, too much of it isn’t. But it’s not going to keep me off the road. That’s a personal promise, not just a public one.