Wilma is my 5 year-old doggie pal who has traveled with me to 41 states and is simply the best dog ever!

Well, I did what rookie runners do, but I suppose I am in that category again. Yesterday my first run was 4.1 miles. Granted I didn’t run the whole time, but still I might not be as sore as I am if I would have covered just 2 miles. Also, Wilma can’t go out just once a day, so yesterday she and I went 8 miles total. Most days, we go a minimum of 3 miles, but it has been walking fast or hiking. My new-found enthusiasm was taking control at the expense of my muscles.

I guess the good news is that I am not as sore as I thought I would be and my basic fitness level with all my walking must still be pretty good, so that’s a relief.

What I have never been good at is stretching and I know this time it is imperative that I stretch regularly. I did stretch, albeit briefly this morning, and Wilma did her usual downward-facing dog and we covered 2.9 miles. When I say ‘covered’ I mean we went that far. I ran a good chuck of it, but my goal is simply to cover the distance. When I can cover the distance running the whole 2.9 miles, then I’ll increase it and start over with covering the distance. This worked for me before and it still seems right.

It’s going to be an interesting experience to see what my 56 year-old body thinks about this whole thing. Mentally I still think I can do whatever I set my mind on doing. I am really lucky that with all the miles I’ve run in my life I have no aches and pains. Good clean living (well 75% of the time) or good genes or a combination thereof. Stay tuned….