This past week was an amazing week to be Road Warrior.

Tuesday evening we had a road warrior dinner with our coaches. It was really nice to spend some "non-running" time together. These people are truly amazing!

Thursday evening we had our usual run with RunGR. I was given the approval to run 4 min/walk 2 min for up to 24 minutes or until I had pain. I was VERY nervous and started out very cautious. I didn't want to push my body to the point of getting pain. By the end of the first segment I was feeling really good. And not just physically good, I felt like I was shaking the dust off of my body and my mind. I looked at my watch and I was going quite a bit faster than my usual pace....with no pain. I decided that I would continue to push my pace for the first mile. I could always use the second mile to recover, if I needed it. Guess what?? I didn't need to recover on my second mile. I was feeling NO PAIN.

Saturday I ran at the Upward Spiral event (organized by a prior Road Warrior). It's a 24 hour run/walk event that raises awareness for depression, bullying and suicide. My plan was to do my run/walk intervals the same as Thursday night and then keep walking until I got to four miles. My run/walk intervals felt really good. I don't want to jinx it, but I felt like my "old runner-self". The walking was good too. I got to the four mile mark and my coaches were still running. I road with them, so I figured that as long as they were running, I was going to walk. Well...by the time they finished, I completed a 10k (6.1 miles). Pretty good for someone that wasn't allowed to workout the week before.

Now, I know that I need to be careful as two good runs does not mean I am completely healed. I am continuing my hip exercises and my physical therapy appointment. To be honest, it just feels good knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.