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I was so excited to be out there and running around on Wednesday, I went pretty hard running routes. I went pretty much as hard as I could, but not all the way to the max like I would in a game. Afterward it felt really great and it didn’t bother me too much. It just felt weird being on it because I had spent so much time off it and nursing it.

I woke up on Thursday with just a little soreness, but after Thursday’s practice I felt really sore. I sat in the cold tub for like 30 minutes. That usually takes some of the soreness out. Hopefully I’ll be ready for Friday and some more practice. If nothing else, I just want to get out there and run again and see how it feels.

I haven’t really set a timeline for when I’m going to get back in a real game. I talked to my doctor Thursday night and let him know how everything is going. He’s really excited about it but he wants me to continue to closely monitor the situation with the team trainers. Hopefully everything will continue to go well and I’ll get all my strength back and be ready to go real soon.

A lot of the guys were excited and said it was good to see me back at practice. They’re excited and I’m excited. Even though I was out, I was still in the locker room – well, the trainer’s room mostly. But it’s just great to be out there laughing and joking around with the guys. We have basically a new receiving corps, we added Hank Baskett and Greg Camarillo and Freddie Brown, a guy that’s been on the practice squad. It’s pretty cool to be out there with all the new guys learning their personalities. I think it’s going to be a good group.

And I think Brett is happy to have me around. While I was hurt he asked me every week through the whole ordeal how I was feeling. I think he’s happy to see me out there running around.

This team is not finished yet. We still have 9 games left. We only have those two wins so far but basically we have the same team that we had last year. If we get out there and execute properly we can turn this thing around and get back to the championship caliber team that we know we can be.

Sidney Rice is a wide receiver with the Minnesota Vikings. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.sidneyrice18.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sidneyrice.