Welcome Back to the Land of Double Digits! (Sunday, May 18, 2025)

Those that know me know I’m very much a forward thinking kinda of guy.

This is especially the case when it comes to running and, specifically, training schedules.

I joined the ranks of Galloway training runners back in mid-March… almost immediately after my orthopedic doctor released me to start running/training again.

My Galloway coach presented me with a training schedule and I started to carefully read each and every entry. 

I must admit there was 1 specific date that caught my eye… Sunday, May 18^th… training run distance: 10 miles.

Since my ruptured Achilles tendon back in late October ’24, my surgery, slow recovery, then gradual return to running… these have all combined to definitely test my patience. (Personal note: As my wife will readily agree, ‘patience’ is not something I’m known for.)

These 10 miles would be my return to ‘double digit’ miles in almost to 7 months.

Normally this would not be an issue or even require a second thought. But as Sunday, May 18^th inched closer and closer, I started to feel something I hadn’t felt in years… nerves.

Yup… I was nervous.

So I decided to ask for the support of my Facebook friends by posting the following:

My Facebook friends came through BIG TIME! Such incredible encouragement and support!

I couldn’t let them down… and I had to do it.

Sunday, May 18^th arrived early… with a 4AM wakeup. (Living in Texas, running past 8AM in the summer months is definitely NOT recommended.)

I prepared for this run like I’m preparing for a race… clothes laid out the night before… freezing a Gatorade bottle for cold liquid, playlist ready to go. 

My Galloway coach gave me the following instructions for this long run: 

“Run at conversational pace, at least 2 minutes per mile slower than you expect to run in the race. Avoid “huffing and puffing.” Use the run/walk/run plan that corresponds to your pace.”

Got it!

Out the door at 5AM… doing 1:00 Run / 0:30 walk the entire way.

Mission Accomplished! Hello DOUBLE DIGIT MILES!

No land speed records broken here… but I felt good the entire way with a slight negative split. 

More normal. And ‘normal’ is very, very good!

#LetsRun!

Let’s talk! Email me at: RupturedRunner@gmail.com.