It’s been a little more than half a year since a six-foot heron flew out of the marshes and scared the wits out of me, causing me to jump laterally and twist the hell out of my right knee. It swelled up like a balloon and I learned what a Baker’s Cyst is. The doc also said I sprained — but didn’t tear — my MCL and my ACL and that I should wait a few months before running again. I switched to working out at a morning bootcamp gym for the late Spring and early Summer, but last week finally decided it was time to lace up my Nike running shoes and hit the pavement.
Work found me in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks and I took the opportunity to knock off just shy of five miles on San Vicente Boulevard between Brentwood and Santa Monica, one of the most beautiful routes in America. Then this morning I pulled myself out of bed, still jet-lagged, and ran a full five miles. I’d like to do the Star Wars half-marathon at Walt Disney World come January, so we’ll see if these legs can get back in the rhythm of running regularly again soon.
Here are the tracks I heard on my run:
- Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) (featuring Nicole Scherzinger and The Pussycat Dolls) — AR Rahman
- I Just Shot John Lennon — Cranberries, The
- Certain Romance, A — Arctic Monkeys
- Holiday (live) — Green Day
- I’ve Been Everywhere — Cash, Johnny
- The Horizon Is a Beltway — Low Anthem, The
- Sexy and I Know It — LMFAO
- Pressure — Joel, Billy
- Spectacular Views — Rilo Kiley
- Hatefuck — Bravery, The
- All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints — Simon, Paul
- Airplanes Pt 2 (featuring Hayley Williams & Eminem) — B.O.B.
Zero hills. Infinite humidity. I'll take the hills. I just ran 5.00 mi @ a 10'08''/mi pace with Nike+. https://t.co/Yjxx9DdO9P #nikeplus
— David Vincent Gagne (@davidgagne) July 26, 2016