For the first time in a while, I ran on the The Rail Trail in Augusta, someplace I’ve done more than a few miles on. Well, at least I used to. Today, I wanted to run on a flatter course to see if I could add in another mile or found out if it was a bit too soon. I wasn’t planning on doing anything fast, just one of those get-r-done runs.

Since I’ve started running again, it just seems like the first few minutes of the run are always a bit of a struggle, so I’m learning to do a quick dynamic warm-up and then take it slower until the body lets me know it’s figured out that we’re running again. After about 3-4 minutes, I hit my stride.

Just before the 2.0 mile mark, I was glad to see the Hallowell wharf’s little blue box – it was a needed pitstop. Once I got going again, I could feel my heart rate climbing as I tackled the first little bump coming out of Hallowell. Instead of pushing through, I took a short walk to let my heart rate settle back down and did the same at the start of the Hallowell end of the rail trail bump.

There are a few bumps on the Hallowell side that always seem to challenge me when I’m not in shape – errr like where I am now. It isn’t that they are difficult or anything, it’s more that the old noggin and body aren’t quite ready for them yet. The rest of the Rail Trail back to mile zero is mostly flat, so I was able to make it the rest of the way without walking.

I finished up down at the Rail Trail Head in the lower parking lot. I felt pretty good towards the end and could’ve gone further as long as I avoided hills. However, I’m attempting to be smartah than usual about my return to running this time and stopped at 4.2 miles which is my longest run in a long time.

When I turned around to start my cool-down and was walking back up to the truck, I noticed boats with red flashing lights in the river, and city workers over on the other side of the river on the dock. I was wondering why City vehicles were on the Rail Trail when I was running and this seemed to give me sort of an idea of what was going on. The boats seemed to be doing search patterns under the bridge. Even though the local online paper didn’t have anything in it, I have a sneaking suspicion they were looking for someone in the water. It was a sobering sight, a stark reminder of the struggles some people face.

Then on the way home, traffic was held up by two hounds taking a walk on the wild side on Old Belgrade Road just after Reynold’s Hill and before NRF. They had traffic pretty well backed up as some good Samaritans were out there attempting to get them. They weren’t having any part of them.

It was an eventful morning, to say the least.

I did answer the question if I could run 4.0 without the knee bothering, which is something I needed to know. With Hurricane Lee coming on Saturday, I wanted to get a good run in since that will most likely be a washout. Physically I’m progressing nicely compared to where I was a few months ago. I just need to stay patient and not get too far ahead of where I am.