Getting Well Soon

I received some "Get Well" cards last week, notably from my thoughtful wife and her thoughtful mother, and surprisingly from the surgical team at Angel Medical Center - Michelle, Stephanie, Susan, Kristy, Brian, Crystal, and Lauren.  Stephanie even drew a little smiley face - "Hope your recovery is going well."  It prompted me to write the latest post on the kitchen blackboard on which we alternate writing things throughout the year.

And I am getting well soon, day by day.  It has only been 12 days since the surgery, and already I am walking three miles, and at a faster average pace each day.  And yes, of course I am tracking my pace per mile on my GPS watch. 

All week I had been looking forward to showing up at the Park at 9:00 this morning to meet the running group, some of whom I had seen individually since my surgery but not all together.  It was so good to see everybody, to catch up on things, before everyone took off and left me.  But our friend Don was kind enough to walk with me for a quarter of a mile before he, too, disappeared around the corner ahead.  

I believe that walking as much as I can will make running easier when my doctor allows me to run again.  But there are other benefits of a more relaxed pace, too.  I stopped to listen to a bird chirping away in a maple tree near the school.  I stopped to smell some actual roses, beckoned by their sweet perfume.  And I had a long chat with Christine, who was back to running again after a layoff and was excited about her upcoming 10-K in hilly Asheville.  Had I been running, I would not have stopped for any of these reasons. 

Randy, one of our fastest runners, was just finishing up two miles when I reached the one-mile mark,  "That looks like a much better pace!" he said.  "It has its benefits, but I really miss running," I replied.  And I do.  But I'm getting well soon.