I am sure there are many ways to describe what it feels like to not run, but to a runner not many of the explanations are positive. As runners we are always looking forward to the next run, sometimes even while we are running. To our non-running friends we are talking as if we are from another planet we we stress about missing a run or when we long to run when something is keeping us from it.The year that just closed it’s doors is one that I will not miss when I think about running. 2011 was littered with pain, disappointment, and frustration when I discuss my year in running. The year started off with disappointment, and never let up.When looking at my 2011 year in review on Daily Mile it tells the grim story. In comparing it to my 2010 year in review on Daily Mile I noticed a few things. My mileage wasn’t even half of what it was in 2010, and my higher mileage months were right around where my lowest mileage month was in 2010.The 12 month timeline tells a story, my story. The story starts in March when things started to fall apart. My mileage was looking good for the most part as I was training for my third marathon, the 2010 Publix Georgia Marathon. I won’t revisit all the details, but an injury late in the marathon training forced me to take a couple weeks off leading up to race day, and ultimately dropping to the half marathon which was even run with some pain.I had an extremely hard time coming back from this thigh injury and the mileage never came back with consistent nagging from my thigh. When I was finally getting past the injury I had trouble building the mileage back to where it needed to be because of fear of injury and just plain laziness. Summer was drawing to a close and the mornings were starting to cool off a bit, but August brought with it some extremely long hours at work which would prove to be one of the final blows to 2011 as a runner. The long hours made it difficult to run, but one morning when I did make it out the door I was greeted with another even more crippling injury, my calf. As the mileage shows I was lucky to run at all during the last quarter of the year, and in some cases went weeks without lacing up the running shoes.This year has taken it’s toll on my body and my spirit. I have had a hard time writing about running when I wasn’t doing it, and felt like a hypocrite when I was eating unhealthy and putting on weight that I had not seen since starting this journey in 2007. The clothes are tighter and the outlook is grim, but I am slowly trying to regain what I have lost, and lose what I have gained. It has and will be a long road back, but I can only take one step and one day at a time. It is amazing how hard it is to eat right when you are not being active.The latest on the running and injury is that I am slowly starting to run again. Each time I tried to run before my calf would end up complaining and putting me on the sideline once again, but this time I am taking it much slower and using compression all along the way. So far so good, but I am keeping conservative with my optimism.How do you describe your feelings when you cannot run? Time to update your feed reader to something that says 26.2 Quest even more - http://feeds.262quest.com/262quest read more..
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