itching to run...

It's really sad, but I have only run a handful of times since the half marathon in February...and with summer right around the corner, I've decided it's time to start running again. So this morning I decided to get and go for a run! Well that lasted about 3 minutes!! All of sudden my legs started burning and itching - like I had a million little fire ants covering my legs and biting! It was awful! I had to stop and ended up walking. When I got home, I had to find out what happened! Turns out it's a common problem...for inactive people! AH!!! How did I get in that category of people! So not cool! I may not be the most active person anymore, but I'm certainly not inactive - I just haven't been running and walking for exercise like I used to. Medically speaking, basically the capillaries in your legs contract and expand rather easily, but if you're inactive they lose elasticity, so they don't expand as readily as they used to. Because they lost their elasticity, nerve endings around the capillaries will transmit the sudden expansion of these capillaries to your brain and your brain perceives this as an itch. Supposedly the "itchy" feeling will go away as activity levels increase. Another reason for me to get back on the sidewalks and running!