running again

I ran for two minutes this morning.  This in and of itself would not be all that exciting to report were it not for the following facts:
Aug 4, 2012 - last run
Jun 25, 2012 - last bike ride in my living room
May 14, 2012 - last yoga class

I injured both my hamstrings in April.  I was showing off on a hike and sprinted up to the top of a hill with no warm-up and in my heavy hiking shoes.  My hamstrings hurt almost immediately.  Yet I kept running, kept exercising and kept desperately hoping that my yoga classes would stretch out the pain. 

You know how people tell you to "listen to your body"?  Well, when it comes to running my body tells me lies.  If I'm tired, my body says "Why don't you run another couple of miles?"  If I don't feel well, my body says "Running will make you feel better!"  And if I'm injured, my body says "It will go away eventually."  I hate my body.  Actually, I don't hate my body, I just hate my body's lies. 

The hamstrings are a big deal muscle group and you need them for everything: walking, standing, sitting down, standing up, bending over, etc etc.  When I finally (finally!) listened to my body, it was because I realized that if I didn't do something I was going to cause permanent damage and would hobble around like an old lady for the rest of my life.  So I stopped running and started jump roping a few times a week and walking around my neighborhood and slowly, slowly, my hamstrings started to heal.  (As an aside I don't know how I managed to stay the same size/shape on so little exercise but I'd like to thank my skinny jeans for keeping me in check and I'm grateful that when I listen to my body when it comes to food, I hear it asking for healthy things.) There was no use getting mad about it - there was literally nothing I could do but let my body heal.  Eventually I noticed that I didn't notice my hamstrings anymore; the constant soreness was gone!  So I went to my local track this morning and ran two minutes and felt pretty darn good (except for the fact that my body has forgotten how to run). 

I've been injured before and coming back from an injury always sucks.  Mentally you know what you were capable of before and it doesn't jibe with what your body tells you.  But I've never taken running for granted; I know how quickly my body can take it away from me.  It's going to take me a long time to get back up to the 45min 3x/week I was running before but I know I need to take it slow and it's going to be a long process.  But I am so grateful for those two minutes of running today and I am so grateful finally (finally!) listening to my body meant that those two glorious minutes of running were pain free.