Nine days ago I was so sore from running hills with my daughter, Faith, that I paid a heavy, painful price.

I know better. I’ve told you better. But then what did I do?

I tried to shrink the time frame. Bad idea.

Years ago when I was around a lot of hills, I ran the piss out of them.

And I wanted to get back to running them. I stand corrected: I wanted to get back to sprinting them.

For a couple weeks I focused on walking the hills, forward, backward and sideward.

That was smart.

But I was so eager to run and sprint them again that instead of working my way back to five, then six, then eight hill sprints, over a period of eight weeks or more, I figured I could do it much quicker.

The hills got the last laugh.

They said, “Sorry, you youngish-old fool. You ain’t a gonna beat me. I’m going to pound you into submission.”

I thought I was fine when I finished my workout on that unfine day. But five hours later I was keenly aware of the sharp pain in my legs… in places I have never felt pain before.

Holy freakin frying pan! ’twas inflammation galore.

And it was all my own damn fault.

It took me eight days to recover. That’s how much damage I did to myself.

Thankfully, I figured out a little routine that helped me through the agony.

I put said routine up on YouTube for y’all to see and learn from.

Go watch it NOW.

And remember, slowliness is holiness.

Matt Furey