To Run or Not To Run?

Just because you love cookies doesn’t mean you have to eat the whole package.

But, I really I love running.

I love strapping on the shoes, setting the watch, and the first step to nowhere.  I love the ache of the first mile and the disappearing pain in mile 3.  I love the internal debate of when I’ll turn around, knowing that each step is taking me further from home.  I love the decision to do a “180” and the re-emergence of pain as I close in on the finish.  And I especially love the satisfaction of being done.

How much is too much?  How and when do you draw the line?

Running is always hard for me, and in the early days of this blog I called running “the King.”  It was the catalyst for my decision to eventually ink a contract with Ironman.  I knew that, if I could run, I could do anything.

But running hurts.  Especially if I run too far or too fast.  And often those pains linger.

A sore knee, a tender heel, a weak ankle.

There is a lot to say about running through the pain, but when the pain doesn’t go away, you have to let your body recover.

I’m not convinced this isn’t mental on some level, but mental or not, I do not want to face a year of Ironman training in my current state.  I’ve decided it will be swim, bike, and yoga or other forms of balance and strengthening for the rest of the month.  And that is difficult because running is the only real outside option when it’s this cold.

And I love running!

So, this is the drill.  Rebuild, restore, recover.

It’s so hard to decide what kind of shape I’m in right now because I feel beaten up.  I just ran an 8 miler in Dallas at a moderate pace, and it was pretty hard.  How much of this is real right now?  How much of this is an illusion?  Am I in better or worse shape than I was a year ago?

*  That picture is from the 8 miler I ran over Thanksgiving in Dallas.  We ran the same section where Kennedy was shot and that “X” marks the spot of his assassination.