Thus far the treadmill experiment has been very encouraging. Encouraging enough to visit the running shop yesterday and hand over two arms (they wanted an arm and a leg, but I argued I'd only then need one shoe) for a pair of Adidas Supernovas (embarrassing name, but a great shoe), and an option on my soul for some extra cushioning inserts and a pair of Thorlo socks. Interesting to note that the socks cost more than a pair of Dunlop Volleys.
I had to take along my bank manager and payroll officer from work to prove I could pay for these items, but in the end they agreed to negotiate. And once I've bought another three pairs of shoes from them, I can have my wife back... :p
As to the running... well nothing to get excited about, but three short, solid runs with minimal fuss from the joints, and no muscle soreness at all have got me bouncing around all terribly excited about running again. Dangerous enthusiasm, really, but thus far I'm being suitably restrained in my return. And the other
big plus for me about using the treadmill is that I can far more easily control my pace and
not overdo it. And so I have at long last discovered it's more than possible to get a great endorphin hit from a run without having to kill yourself in the process. Makes the whole motivation thing a lot simpler, that's for sure.
So while it's
waaaay too early to be making race plans
naturally I've been thinking it through, and
if all goes well ... well, I won't quite allow myself the luxury of putting my thoughts down here yet, as there's a lot of water to pass under the bridge before then. But suffice to say that having had my marathon training thrown out once already (in my defence it took a spell in intensive care to do it) I am not about to let dodgy knees ruin everything again without exploring all the options.
By the way, I've made an astounding discovery: stout, it seems, is a very effective anti-inflammatory. Admittedly the side-effects preclude it from being used prior to a run, but as an after-run tonic it's brilliant.
Oh happy days
Born again plodder.
