Jog Blog (Well, sort of)

As I've mentioned in blogs before, I have been running, on and off, for over 20 years now. And after yet another lay off, this time for around 4 months, I've finally started again.
Well, I say I've started again. What I really mean is that I've actually got off my backside and gone out for a run. One run. So far.
As they say, the longest journey starts with a single step. So, I'm trying to be positive about this.
There is a reason why it's been around 4 months since I last ventured out in my running shoes. So, I may as well relay that reason/excuse (delete as applicable) here.
For those reading this who happen to live in the UK, you probably remember that we had a pretty bad Winter in 2009/10. By our standards anyway.
In February, we had another, short lived, burst of snow, here in the South east of the UK. As so often happens though, this snow fell over night. Why is that?
So, I awoke to find the streets covered in around 6 inches of undisturbed snow. I know that some people would have taken one look out of the window and thought "There's no way I'm going to try and get into work today. It's just not worth it" But, stupidly as it happens, I thought i'd give it a go.
So, I dressed up to protect myself against the elements and ventured out. There were some tyre tracks in the road, so I thought that would probably be the safest place to walk. As I could see where I was putting my feet. As opposed to the path, which was totally undisturbed.
This idea worked pretty well for a few yards. Yes, it was a little slippery in places. But, nothing that I couldn't cope with. Or, so I thought!
It was at that moment that I did one of those classic, cartoon type, slips and falls in the snow. My feet went from under me and I went up into the air and then crashed back down to earth, on my back, with a bang. It must have looked pretty spectacular. But, thankfully, for my own personal pride at least, nobody was there to winess my fall from grace.
As I landed in a great heap. My right foot ended up underneath my body and at a strange angle too. I am convinced that I was very close to actually breaking my lower leg and do consider myself to have been pretty lucky. As it happens, instead of breaking my leg, I "only" either sprained it badly, or pulled a muscle down there.
I got up, brushed off the snow, looked around to make sure that nobody had witnessed my accident and then tried to walk. As can be imagined, this was not easy. I was very tempted to turn straight around and go back home. But, I decided to press on and 'walk off" my injury. By the time that I got to the train station my leg didn't feel too bad. As with all these type of things though. As the day progressed, I started to find it increasingly hard to walk.
To cut a long story short(ish), my injury, although pretty painful at times, didn't stop me from going to work, or getting about generally and required no medical attention. Well, not in my opinion anyway.
My leg gradually started to improve, although I could still feel the injury if I pressurised it in any way. Hence the fact that I didn't even try to run on it. Even on the short bursts of jogging that you tend to do in life, I could feel a little pain at times. So, I decided to  just let it heal itself and hope for the best.
I was tempted to try running on again before my trip to the USA in April. I was planning to run with a couple of friends whilst in the USA. But, I decided against it. Just in case it flared up and ruined my whole trip.
So, that's the reason it has taken me all this time to work up the courage to actually go out and run on it properly. And, wouldn't you know it? It felt fine!
I'll admit to feeling pretty apprehensive when i took those first steps outside my door, the other day. But, I soon realised that it was going to be ok. It was all the other muscles in my legs that hurt instead!
Having the experience of running for those 20 years and also of having started running again after multiple lay offs. I realise that I need to take this all fairly slowly. So, that's what I fully intend to do.
Hopefully, I'll be able to document my running recovery, if that's the right expression, here and maybe even on YouTube as well.
As with all of these things. It's great to be able to look back on these events and remind yourself of what happened. I have old running diaries from many years ago and it's sometimes good to look back at them and remind and even surprise yourself, of some of the things that you did, or experienced.
So, watch out for "Jog Blog No.2"