My season has not started out the way that I intended. Not at all.
I hoped to have my first hundred miler under my belt by now. Unfortunately that was not in the cards for
me. I trained hard for the McNaughton
100 miler all winter but suffered an Achilles injury three weeks b/f the race. Achilles Tenosynovitis. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at it
in the weeks prior to the race in hopes of healing it up in time. Acupuncture, massage, ice, compression, kt
tape, reiki, lemongrass oil, Biofreeze, rest, elevation, Udo’s oil, the list
goes on. Any advice people gave me, I
tried. I wanted that race SO bad. But…we make plans and God laughs. I’ll probably never know why I wasn’t meant
to run that race. I guess the biggest
thing now is healing up and being able to run this season. My next race is the Ice Age 50 and it’s only
a couple of weeks away. I haven’t run in
a month. I’ve been unable to compete in
two races that I was signed up for so far this year.
I’m learning a lot by not being able to run. I’m learning patience and I’m learning to let
go of the ego. I’m reminded how
unimportant running races really are. I
put so much time and energy into something that really doesn’t matter in the
broad scope of things. But as coach
Bowerman once said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “If you can find meaning in
something as arbitrary as running, maybe you can find meaning in something as
arbitrary as life.”
Not being able to do something you love and something that
you are passionate about and something that you normally do everyday leaves you
w/ a lot of time. I’ve been writing a
bit more. Reading a bit more. I’ve got a clean house most days now. I’ve been swimming, doing jiu-jitsu and
lifting weights to keep my fitness level up.
Roxy has too much energy and I get lonely w/out running to keep me
company. I live by myself and I don’t
have cable tv or internet at my house b/c I am normally training like a
madman. So, while my friends are all
working hard for their upcoming events, I’m catching up on movies I didn’t have
time to watch last year. The break is
nice and probably essential to my life.
It’s just taken a period of adjustment.
This is part of the game. All
athletes go through it. It could be
worse. I’m keeping my head up and being
optimistic. Just learning how to keep my
head up and be optimistic as I go…
