December 27, 2021. I have been officially retired for about eight hours. Let the blog posts come fast and furious.
When I started this blog, I had just switched routes from my trusty, familiar, long-standing route in the city to a relatively rural route that was spread out geographically with plenty of time in the driver's seat. I had also just completed my first half marathon a few months prior, so my running life was thriving. I figured I would have plenty of time to think of interesting topics during long rides between stops and plenty of experiences to write about since running at a fairly frequent clip. The combination of the two seemed like a great combination for an active, prospering blog.
About two months into my tenure on my new rural route, I was hit by a drunk driver and was out of work for eleven months with various injuries. Needless to say, my running career was put on hold. While I had some time to write, I had nothing to write about. I could not run, so all of my "material" had dried up.
Even after I had completed my rehab and returned to work, my blogging efforts were, at best, sporadic. New implementations of various procedures at work made the job more demanding and time-consuming. Age and years of back issues made a recovery difficult and put running at a premium. Except for an extremely good streak in the middle of last year, running has not been on the agenda.
In May of this year, I again hurt my back, and running of all types had to be put on hold. I have been on short-term disability for most of that time while going through various assessments, procedures, and therapies. My main source of physical exercise has been indoor cycling with Zwift, which has been challenging and flat-out fun, but it just can not beat getting out and going for a run. (Oh, I made a little rhyme)
Enter the dark side of Zwift, the running aspect. Zwift is obviously a platform for cycling and a very good one. However, Zwift also has a platform for running;. At the same time, it is not as developed or as popular as the cycling platform, it still is beneficial for taking the boredom out of a treadmill workout, all the while feeding you a bunch of metrics about your run that you will not get if your treadmill entertainment is watching old reruns of "Mike & Molly."
I am not sure how many Zwift treadmill workouts I have done. I have tried a few walk only sessions. I usually do a workout consisting of a warmup and a regular run. My runs have come with a wide range of successes, ranging from pulling up after a mile during a run in Richmond to finishing a four-mile course in Watopia, complete with a heart rate that did not spike to a negative split. The latter provided me with great enthusiasm; while my pace was slow even for a sixty-year-old man, I felt strong during the run. My form was okay, and I did what I set out to do.
For the most part, I could not run for the last seven months. There has been no outside running between injuries and paranoia about being watched by the disability people. My daughter even procured my phone armband to use as a fanny pack. I have put on about thirty pounds (for the most part, in a very clandestine manner) and am out of running shape. But that last Zwift run gave me something I have not felt in a long time, confidence.
I bought a running buddy to hold my cell phone, and if it comes in soon, I would like to go for an outside run sometime next week. Nothing serious, just a test to see where I stand and to make sure all of my electronics still work. Until then, running with Zwift seems to be a viable alternative. I also understand that blogging about the perils of the virtual routes in Watopoia might not make for the best copy, so I will see what I can do.
For now, retirement feels great. Let's go with that.
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