Update

So, it’s been roughly four weeks since I last did an update, and it’s also been roughly four weeks since I did my last run. Coincidence?!? At any rate, I’ve been on the shelf battling heel pain that just doesn’t seem to want to go away. Last weekend things seemed to be getting better, so I spent a good bit of time on my feet and even did a two mile walk with Kaitlyn on Sunday to see how my heel would react. Unfortunately I could tell throughout that it just wasn’t right, but stubbornly I tried to run on Monday anyway. I didn’t even make it out of the parking lot of the Bast Center, which amounted to about 20 sec of hobbling, and that was that.

Tuesday, the day after my three day increase in activity, I was actually right much worse, but I got quickly better from there. I’m now finally at a point where I can walk completely pain free and even do some calf raises with minimal pain. Accordingly, I may try to run again at some point this week, but I’ll just have to see how it goes and be ready to pull the plug quickly again depending.

I don’t know if it’s old age or what, but for the last several years, whenever I get hurt it seems to be a doozy. It used to be that ten days in a row off would be the most I would ever need to get back on track and I could also return to fitness quickly as well. Now it seems my injuries require months of rest and then it takes forever to get back in shape. In fact, this past time I never really got back in shape after losing several months to my hamstring when this heel problem hit.

The good news is I actually don’t seem to have as many little niggles as I did when I was younger. Perhaps that’s because I don’t push as hard on a daily basis when I am healthy, partially because I’ve learned better and partially because I’m simply not able to. Regardless, I can say that getting older has not gone well for me on the running front, and I fully realize that it’s only going to get progressively more difficult from here (I don’t even want to think about 50 at this point – lol). That would seem to leave me with two options: 1) quit or 2) deal with it. For now, I’m leaning towards the latter and trying to get whatever my body will give me as I go along, but it’s been an unpleasant, humbling journey so far.

Changing topics, I’m looking forward to watching the Olympic Marathon Trials this weekend and the races are shaping up to be very interesting. There are actually several Masters runners in the races, two of which have legit shots at making the Olympic team, and I’ll be rooting for the old folks to do some damage. Watching the ’96 Trials is one of the things that led to me getting serious about competitive running, so maybe this year’s Trials will provide another spark. Be sure to check out the live coverage starting at 1:00PM on NBC this coming Saturday, and cheer extra hard for those Masters athletes out there still getting it done. Trust me, it's not easy!