At Least He Never Walked...

By the 2nd of August, I was feeling comfortable running. In the initial weeks, the day after the long run was comedic- getting up from a chair or down the stairs was painful & clumsy as the legs refused to bend. Sundays now are not bad- no more body freezing, and I can actually get up & get things done.
Since I had started feeling like a 'runner', I decided to listen to a memoir of Haruki Murakami. Its called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. It is short and a very good read/listen, especially for runners.
One of the things that gave me great relief was listening to him say that all runners feel lazy and not enthusiastic about running until they wear their shoes.
Apart from that, I enjoyed listening to his account of runs that spanned decades. He ran the original marathon in Greece- that was his first unofficial marathon. Greece will be my first marathon too, so I felt a certain kinship with Murakami. But of course I am not comparing myself to him- he has run 23+ marathons, and a couple ultramarathons as well. And most of all - he runs the entire length of the marathon. He wants his epitaph to say, "...at least he never walked". I will be happy if my epitaph can read, "...at least she finished the race."
One thing that Murakami & I share in common is the right knee pain. Last weekend while running my 9 mile long run on Saturday, my right knee started paining & freezing. That string of muscle on my right calf had strung so tight, that I could now feel the entire violin on my right leg, with the knee being the head of the violin. And at that precise moment, Murakami started talking about his knee pain, "...and its always the right knee", he teased, as I started smiling through my pain. "Change the topic, Murakami san", I told him, and he did move on to discussing Gatsby but not before assuring me that all runners have knee trouble, and that he would be surprised if a runner did not. Apparently F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby when he was just 29!