The Run

Yesterday I decided I needed to start running again.  It was a perfect day for it and the night before I made up a destination/route and checked to make sure all the fun apps I like to use were working.

When I woke up in the morning, I made some scrambled eggs (well egg, we only had one) and ate a strawberry activia yogurt.  I accompanied this with two or three glasses of water and then waited for all of my food to settle.

I looked through my dresser to pull out my running clothes, my compression pants, my dry fit t, and running jacket and sneakers and got all geared up.

I stretched in the living room before my run to make sure that I wouldn’t really seriously injure myself.  

While thinking about my route, I also thought about the errands I had to run.  I needed to go to the bank to withdraw money from my American bank account and deposit it into my Dutch bank account to ensure I could pay for rent.  I also needed to get some contact lens solution as well as eggs and more yogurt.

I packed my bank cards into my pocket with my residence permit card and my tram card, grabbed my inhaler and keys, and was out the door.

I set up my couch to 5k app because it’s really helpful at getting me back into running and set up the first run since I really haven’t run in a long time.  I launched a playlist on spotify and off I went.

I basically just followed the tram tracks so that way, if anything went wrong, I wouldn’t be very far from a tram ride home.

My plan was to run to the Vondelpark from my house or get as close to it as I could because that is about a 5 km distance.

The run was really nice.  Intervals were 1.5 min of walking and 1 min of running.  Pretty easy for my first time back.  That went very well and I wasn’t even tired when I finished the 30 minutes of the couch to 5k program.  I had traveled 2.23 miles.

I decided to keep on going and just walk the rest of the way to Vondelpark which was about another mile or so away. From this point, I launched my Nike+ App to track the walk.  When I got to Vondelpark, I messaged Job and asked if he had taken his break yet.  The park is very close to where Job works, and he was actually out on a break so I walked over and said hi and told him about my run.  He was pretty impressed which was cool.  He did have to get back to work though, and I wanted to continue on walking and finishing my errands, so we both departed.

I made my way to the bank, walked through Dam Square and the Rokin, and to Centraal Station and hopped on a bus back to our neighborhood. 

I had walked an additional 3.12 miles which was pretty great.  I forgot to pause the walk when I ran into Job and when I went to the bank which severely hurt my pace, but it was great exercise still.  

I got off the bus and went to the C1000. (I only went to C1000 because I didn’t want to have to go all the way back home and get a bag or pay for a bag there, and they have a container where you can put your old bags for someone who may have forgotten a bag to take, so I took one.)  I purchased the eggs and yogurt I needed and made my way next to Kruidvat which is like a CVS.  I found my contact lens solution here and then walked home.

I definitely strained a muscle in my left leg because I can barely lift it and my right leg is sore.  But it’s a good sore.  Hopefully the weather will be nice on Sunday.