Getting back to running

After a 10-year hiatus from years of running 10 miles a day, which saw both my knees sustain damage from running on concrete streets in Louisiana, I've taken up jogging again.

After losing nearly 70 pounds and riding an exercise bike for an hour a day for several months, I foolishly thought I would be in decent enough physical shape to "hit the streets" again.

Oops! my logic was more than just a little off. Apparently running and riding an exercise bike use entirely different muscles since my legs now feel as if someone was slicing my thighs with knives whenever I stand up, climb steps or go down steps.

And, my little two-mile run was far more optimistic and energetic than I had anticipated, having to run a couple hundred yards and then walk a little ways before running again.

But then I remembered when I first started running about 25 years ago I began the same way. So maybe the pain will go away as my legs get used to it and maybe my wind will return as my aging body adjusts.

My wife, though, keeps reminding me I'm not as young as I was when I was running on a daily basis and I'd better not push myself like I did a decade ago.

All I know is my goal is to get up to easily going about six miles a day and then running in the News and Sentinel Half Marathon this year.

I hope I make it!