Trail Note: Back. With Enthusiasm.

I finally hit the trail yesterday after a full week's break while I was down with a bad cold. This is the longest I've gone without running that I can remember, including the week following the marathon last fall. I had been feeling really burnt out this winter, and really haven't been enjoying running. Rather, I've been doing it out of obligation and fear of choking in Boston. Taking a week off, however, made me realize how much I miss it when I'm not doing it. This past week I found myself avidly reading Runner's World, flipping back to running blogs I haven't visited for a while, aching to get back on the trail.

Yesterday I headed out to do the short, 3.5 mile loop around my neighborhood. The weather was what I'm thinking is my favorite running weather: overcast and damp (very occasional mist) with temperatures in the low 50's. After a week of very cold dry weather (very atypical for this area), it's nice to have the air feel and smell like spring again. The cherry trees are starting to bloom and the crocuses are all out. The azaleas in our year were starting to bloom, but the freezing temps last week literally nipped them in the bud. Anyway, I was excited to be out running. My legs didn't feel as fresh as I had hoped, but I had just biked up my hill earlier in the afternoon (I biked to work Tues and Wed). I didn't really feel like I'd lost too much fitness. We'll see over the next few days as I slowly start to ramp my miles back up.