When you need a jump start

The other day after I had walked a second time around the lake with Deborah, I asked, "I wonder if this gets me out of running today."

It was an odd comment coming from me, and she picked up on it, saying, "I thought you liked running." Well, most of the time I do, but I dislike starting again after taking time off. "It's sort of like giving a jump start to a car," I said. "Once I get going, it's fine."

I had restarted everything post-hernia except for the running, and I kept putting it off. Tennis has challenges (like getting the ball  over the net), but in a way it's easier because you put on your sneakers and tennis-face and then you just go, but you don't go and go and go.

Running is a commitment to constant movement. The day of the longer dog walk wasn't terribly cold, so I made myself change and and go back out. I thought of babying myself by starting really slowly, but I reasoned that since I had run six miles in November, I didn't need to start with one mile all over again now.

So off I went for a three-miler. My feet actually remembered what to do, and before I knew it I was almost floating along.

Yesterday I had tennis, so I wasn't planning on running. Even if I didn't have tennis, I'm not sure I would have gone, because it was super cold and I am a little older than I used to be. But Katie, who has been increasing her distance, was game. I lent her some of my cold-weather running stuff: a really warm long-sleeved wicking shirt and a fleece headband to cover her ears.

With her long ponytail, she looked like I used to, reminding me of days when I ran in such cold weather that there would be little pieces of ice on my eyelashes.

After she left, I put on my long puffy coat and a scarf, hat and mittens, bundling up as though it was the Arctic. I took Maddie once around the lake and was glad to get back in the warm house.

As for alternatives, I really hate the treadmill, aka the dreadmill, but I have discovered the Arc trainer  (a little more difficult and more interesting than the elliptical), so hopefully I will feel motivated and up to popping out the door when it gets warmer.

Sometimes, meanwhile, I jog around the house a little, and I mean a very little, like a few steps here and there, and Maddie looks at me as though I am a little bit crazy. Maybe it's my way of keeping the engine running.