Training Summary: 1/25 - 1/31

Mon - 6 miles
Tue - 6 miles
Wed - 1 mile
Thu - 7 miles
Fri - 0
Sat - 0
Sun - 0
Total: 20 miles

So here’s the short version. I first felt some knee pain after my run on Monday, then felt it pretty bad in the second half of my Tuesday run. I had to bail out altogether on Wednesday, only to feel much better and have one of my best runs since starting back on Thursday. Friday I was significantly worse though, so I decided to take a few days off. I’m pretty sure because my shin wasn’t completely pain free when I started back I altered my footstrike and tweaked my knee. I don’t think it’s anything major, but I’m going to have to wait for it to settle down, else I’ll tweak something else and just continue a never ending saga.

I drafted up a post on Friday that I decided not to publish. I was feeling pretty frustrated and discouraged at the time (today makes 12 weeks since I had to shut down my training), and I was just about ready to throw in the towel. There are plenty of times where I feel like I’m being delusional and just embarrassing myself by attempting to carry out what has become nothing more than a Sisyphean task, and I certainly have to question whether or not I can ever run fast again based on the way things have gone for so long now. However, in the midst of feeling sorry for myself, I got an e-mail from Leslie that really helped pick my spirits up. As she has done so many times, she helped me remember some things and get my situation in perspective. I never could have made it as far as I have without her support, and I can’t say enough how thankful I am to still have it, especially after all she has had to put up with.

Anyway, that leads me to where I am as I type this. I may very well be near the end of my running career or there might still be many miles, races, and even a few PR’s in my future. However, I won’t know if I let this defeat me, so I will wait patiently for things to clear up and then go to work. I remain optimistic about the new training scheme I will put in place as soon as I get healthy, and I look forward to putting some hard earned lessons to good use. I will conclude with a Japanese saying that fits my existing mood quite well: Get knocked down seven times; stand up eight.